Elementary in Teaberry

by R A Wallace

  Erica looked up from her notes for a minute then shook her head. “She should have said something. We interviewed them separately. It’s not like she would have been talking in front of Gabe. And even if she was, what’s the big deal? She said it was just dinner.”

  Jerry slanted a look at Erica. “Really?”

  “What does that mean?” Erica’s eyes dropped back down to her notes.

  “You told Brad about that guy and the walk in the park?”

  “That was different.” Erica muttered as she lifted her notes up to her face. “He was an idiot.”

  “You were divorced from your husband at the time,” Jerry reminded her. “You went out on a date.”

  “I wouldn’t call it a date. We met in the park. We took a short walk. A very short walk. I left him standing there.” Erica dropped her notes in her lap.

  “But you didn’t tell Brad.” It wasn’t a question.

  Erica sighed loudly. “No, I didn’t tell Brad. But only because it wasn’t my idea to go on the walk anyway.” Her eyes shifted to Jerry.

  Jerry waved one hand. “I ran into him several times at the park when I went on my runs. We talked more than once. He seemed normal when I met him. I figured it was a safe place for you to meet him with lots of people around. How much trouble could you get into in the middle of the day?”

  “Until he offered to do a tick check on me two minutes after I met him.” Erica picked her notes back up.

  “Anyway, that’s my point. LeAnn may have had a similar experience from what Megan said. Right?” He slowed to pull into Waters Food.

  “Yeah.” It came out on a sigh. “I suppose. Doesn’t mean we should take either one of them off the suspect list completely.”

  “Speaking of suspects,” Jerry said as he cut the engine. “There’s Grady Waters over there.”

  Erica was out of the patrol car first. “Mr. Waters. We need a word with you.”

  The man in question turned from speaking with an employee. The employee didn’t hang around to see what the police wanted. He crossed over to a delivery truck and got inside. Grady waited for Erica and Jerry to join him. The delivery truck driver pulled out of the lot.

  Erica handled the introductions for the formality of it then held up a notepad. “We’re here about a murder investigation. We need to ask you about a possible incident between you and the deceased that may have occurred recently at the feed store in town.”

  Grady made a face indicating there wasn’t an incident. “I spoke with Gregg, sure. Too bad about his death.”

  Jerry watched the delivery truck drive away then eyed a few other trucks parked by one of the production buildings. “You deliver a lot of your products straight to people’s homes?”

  Grady seemed happy to have a change of conversation. “We do, in addition to delivering to other markets like grocery stores. Many of our regular customers are shut ins. Others just don’t want to deal with stores. It’s so much easier to have your meals delivered right to you, especially when you can order everything online at your own convenience.”

  It sounded like a sales ad. Erica interrupted. “You and Gregg. What was that about?”

  Grady rubbed at his face. “Uh, well. He mentioned something about problems he’s having with other businesspeople in town. That sort of thing.”

  “Seemed a little more than that,” Erica said.

  Grady’s smile held no humor. “I think whoever may have seen us talking was mistaken.”

  Erica’s smile was also humorless. “We have you on video. You were waving your hands everywhere.”

  Grady lifted both hands then dropped them. “I talk with my hands. I always have. Nothing unusual there.”

  Erica asked several more questions but the responses were more of the same. They were back in the patrol car a short while later.

  Jerry started the engine. “What did you think?”

  Erica removed her sunglasses to look at her notes. “Seemed like he was hiding something.”

  “Yeah. I thought so too.” Jerry checked his rearview mirror as he pulled out of the parking lot. Grady Waters stood watching them drive away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Thanks for doing this.” Megan reached for a towel to dry her hands then turned around to look at her mom.

  Sharon stood and held her hands out to Aaron to lift him from the high chair. “We had plans anyway, didn’t we little guy?”

  “Plans?” Megan picked up her mug of tea then leaned back against the counter.

  Sharon set Aaron on the floor. “We promised Flora and Dora we would visit them. Aaron likes the donkeys. Maybe because they’re closer to his size than the horses are.”

  “It’s not supposed to be as windy today.” Megan watched Aaron easily get up on his knees and head for one of the cupboards. “With any luck, we won’t get any rain.”

  “What are your plans?” Sharon sat down at the table again.

  “I told the mayor and Caitlyn that I would speak with businesspeople about ads on the town web site to help compensate for Caitlyn’s marketing idea.” Megan took a sip of her tea. “I’m also hoping to learn more about Gregg Eastman.”

  Sharon’s eyes filled with concern. “I can understand LeAnn being worried, but are you sure this is something you should be involved in?”

  “Gregg was in business. I’m going to be speaking with other’s who are also in business. I don’t think I’ll be in any danger.” Megan turned and rinsed her empty mug in the sink. “I’ll be careful.”

  “Erica knows what you’re up to?”

  Megan opened the dishwasher to set her mug inside. “That’s the deal.”

  As short time later, she was pulling out of her driveway. Instead of heading straight for town, she took some country roads to her first stop. The Teaberry Seed Company was also outside of town. As she drove up the long drive, she enjoyed the view of the main office. It was inside a large house-like structure made to resemble a log home. It was attractively decorated with local stones around the front of the building. It had a large porch wrapped around the building with an overhang to protect against the elements. There was seating available throughout the porch including beautiful wood rocking chairs.

  It all looked so inviting. Megan wondered how often the employees sat out on the chairs to enjoy the view. Maybe during their breaks. She was sure it was something she would do. Several of the fields could be seen from the porch. The fields contained acres and acres of various flowers that were grown for the seeds. When the flowers were in bloom, the view would be amazing.

  She stepped inside the building. Decorative local stones were also used inside the house. The whole fireplace was made from them. The high-ceilinged room was supported with exposed beams. Fans and rustic light fixtures hung from above.

  Although no one was at the front desk, Megan knew where Renee Vanderen’s office was. She stopped in the open door and tapped to get Renee’s attention.

  “Hey. I didn’t hear you come in.” Renee stood from her desk. “My office is a little cramped. We can sit out by the fireplace.”

  “Thanks for making the time to see me.” Megan led the way to a comfortable grouping of chairs and took a seat.

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with Cole, does it?” Renee sat across from her.

  Megan thought of the young man that worked at the feed store with Dan. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. I should have been more clear when I called you yesterday.”

  Renee looked relieved.

  Megan explained Caitlyn’s ideas for marketing. “I understand that you handle marketing here now?”

  “Yes, and we would be happy to participate. I know Wayne and Cissy would want to be involved.” Renee shifted back in her seat, happy that the topic of the meeting was so innocuous. “I don’t know what I thought when you first called. First I was worried it might be about Cole. Then I wondered if it had anything to do with Gregg Eastman’s death.”

  Megan thought Renee’s mention of Gregg was more than just a p
assing comment. “You knew Gregg well?” She watched a slight tinge of color bloom in Renee’s face.

  “Well.” Renee took a deep breath. “You know that Wayne and I.” Renee stopped talking and grimaced.

  Megan smiled gently. “Have finally admitted to your feelings?”

  Renee nodded once as she clasped her hands together. “Cole seems to be okay with it. I’m not sure about Garrett yet.”

  “He’s still a bit young,” Megan murmured.

  “I’m hoping he’ll come around,” Renee agreed. “Anyway, before all of that.”

  Megan nodded to show she was following.

  “My car broke down on the way home one day.” Renee waved a hand. “This was before Gabe opened his garage. Gregg happened to drive by. He stopped and picked me up.”

  “That was nice.”

  “It was. I knew him in school, of course. I was a couple of grades behind him, but I knew him well enough to accept his offer.” Renee tilted her head. “I also knew him well enough to know what a kidder he was.”

  “Kidder?”

  “About women. He was always talking about women, you know?” Renee paused. “He asked me out before he dropped me off at my house. Then we seemed to run into each other a lot after that.” She rubbed her temple. “Even then, I wondered if it was accidental or intentional.”

  “You didn’t say yes?”

  Renee clasped her hands again. “He just wasn’t the type of man I would want to bring home to my boys.”

  Megan thought of her own son and nodded.

  “Anyway, whenever I saw him he spent a lot of time talking about other women who did say yes. Like that was some sort of selling point.” Renee made a face. “From what I could tell, he wasn’t very picky. Married, unmarried. Didn’t make me feel very special, that’s for sure.”

  “I can imagine,” Megan murmured as she considered it.

  “I can’t imagine what those poor women would have thought if they ever heard him talking about them like that.” Renee lifted her brows. “Especially the married ones.”

  ***

  She opened another folder and spread the contents out across her desk. The pages included the images Caitlyn had from the genealogy book and anything else that Jennifer was able to find on the Wieland family of Elementary in Teaberry fame. From what she could tell, there was quite a history there starting with Grover Wieland, the original owner of the toy shop. He was also the genius behind most of the toy inventions. It was too bad that he never seemed to profit from it. Not in his lifetime, at any rate. Much of his money and his time seemed to be taken up with patent fights. His son, Elias, continued that path to poverty during his lifetime. Jennifer reached for her keyboard to continue her search. She logged into a paid subscription that she kept. She had more than one, of course. She had to use different ones depending on the type of search she was doing. In her line of work, she needed to be thorough. That included searches for copyright infringements, trademark infringements, and even patent infringements.

  She began with patents and used the Wieland name for a keyword search. What she found astounded her. No wonder the Wielands never succeeded. Everything they made must have been handed over in the early days of toy inventions. While it was true that Grover Wieland created some interesting toys, others all over the world created similar toys. Alphabet blocks, building blocks, rocking horses. The list seemed endless. She continued following the leads she found. She was buried deep in the legal language of a trust an hour later.

  “Knock, knock.”

  Jennifer’s hand went to her throat. “Oh, Rhonda.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you could hear the bells on your door from here.” Rhonda stepped into Jennifer’s office.

  “Normally, I can.” Jennifer waved one hand toward her computer. “Apparently, I was lost in my work.”

  “Must be interesting stuff,” Rhonda said as she looked at the pages spread across Jennifer’s desk.

  “Do you remember Elementary in Teaberry?” She watched Rhonda frown. “They used to sell toys here.”

  The confusion cleared. “Caitlyn has been mentioning it.”

  Jennifer motioned toward her computer again. “I think I may have found something.”

  “Like what?”

  “The family that made toys lost more money than they made in all of the patent fights that came afterward.” Jennifer picked up the first page of a printout. “But it looks like one patent decision was overturned years after the fact.”

  Rhonda took a step closer to Jennifer’s desk. “Really? That does sound interesting. Does it help Caitlyn at all?”

  Jennifer lowered the paper in her hand. “Speaking of helping Caitlyn, that was very generous of Waters Food to donate seed money for advertising.”

  Rhonda waved the praise away. “It’s for a good cause.”

  Jennifer waved the paper in her hand. “This might be for a good cause too. The money that the family won has never been used. It was put into a trust.”

  “For a member of the family?” Rhonda guessed.

  “No, that’s the interesting part. The trust was left to the town of Teaberry.” Jennifer pointed at a passage on the page in front of her. “But only if specific conditions are met. It’s all right here in legalese.”

  Rhonda shook her head. “I’m glad it’s you figuring all of that out and not me.”

  Jennifer set the paper down and reached for a folder on the side of her desk. “Which is why you are here. I have the documents you need. These are the employee contracts using the new language we discussed.”

  “Thanks. That’s what I stopped for. I won’t hold you up any longer.” Rhonda took the folder and waved it before turning to leave. “Good luck with the trust.”

  “Thanks.” Jennifer had already returned to her computer.

  ***

  Gabe pushed the button to open the large bay door. As soon as he had clearance, he ducked under and stepped outside. He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door to the Waters Food delivery truck then climbed inside. After backing it into the open bay, he cut the engine. His phone buzzed with LeAnn’s tone at the same time. She’d just sent him a text.

  In his haste to pull his phone from his pocket, he managed to drop the truck key. He was looking at the message on his phone while he bent to run his hand around the floor of the truck. His fingers didn’t touch anything that felt like a key. He straightened and pressed to speak a text response into his phone. After pressing send, he tucked the phone away then bent to search for the key again.

  When he didn’t find it on the floor mat, he began searching under the seat. His hand touched fabric. He grabbed and pulled out a jacket. He stepped back to shake the jacket out to see if the key was trapped inside the fabric. Although he didn’t find a key, the dark stains on the jacket caused him to drop it immediately. He took a step back and reached for his phone again. This time, he called the police.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I’m just saying, what are the odds?” Erica stared at the murder board.

  Jerry rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s the timing that bothers me.”

  Erica pointed at him with the marker. “Exactly. LeAnn decides to confess to a relationship with the victim that she supposedly kept hidden from her former husband.”

  “Then her former husband finds a bloody jacket in a vehicle that was dropped off for him to work on.” Jerry stared at the board then shook his head. “It still doesn’t play for me.”

  Erica blew out a breath. “Yeah. Me neither. We need to look wider.”

  “We’re still missing something,” he agreed.

  “Follow the money,” she said.

  “Always a good plan.”

  “Was Gregg Eastman having trouble with his business?” Erica uncapped the marker.

  Jerry knew she wasn’t expecting an answer. It wasn’t the first time she’d asked the question.

  Erica capped the marker. “You’ve looked into Gregg’s electronics. H
is phone.”

  “Wasn’t much there.” Jerry crossed over to his desk and picked up a folder. He started reading as he walked slowly back toward her. “Lot of business calls, of course. In fact, that seems to be all there is.” He ran his finger down the list of numbers. “This last call.”

  “Yeah?” She turned away from the murder board.

  Jerry flipped through some of the pages to compare the number. “The last number that called Gregg Eastman’s phone.” He looked up at Erica. “It was Grady Waters.”

  “Seriously?” She leaned over his shoulder to look at the list.

  “I knew it was there, but so were a lot of other calls from businesses in town. A lot of people who needed electrical work done called this phone.”

  “No reason to single it out before,” she agreed. “Until now.”

  He nodded. “You ready to talk to him?”

  Erica looked toward the hallway that led to the interrogation rooms. “Think he’s been sitting in there long enough?”

  Jerry led the way. “We’ll know when we get there. Maybe he feels like talking? The wait has been eating at him and he’s ready to confess.”

  The man they found sitting in the room didn’t look worried. He looked annoyed. He shifted angry eyes from Jerry to Erica as they filed into the room. Jerry remained standing between Grady Waters and the exit. Erica took the chair across the table from Grady.

  He focused his attention on her. “Why am I here?”

  “We thought you would like to amend the story you told us when we last spoke with you,” Erica said smoothly.

  Grady held his hands out, palms up. “You couldn’t just stop and talk to me?”

  Erica didn’t blink. “We tried that once. We didn’t get the answers we wanted.”

  Grady’s eyes went to the ceiling as though searching for answers. “I don’t have any other answers. I don’t even know the questions.” He shifted forward in his seat and leaned one arm against the table. “Look. It’s like I told you. I happened to see Gregg at the feed store recently. It’s certainly not the first time that’s happened. I see him everywhere all over town.”