Turkey Trot Terror

by Kate Bell

  She nodded, and I got a piece of paper from my purse and wrote my phone number down. “Program that into your phone. Please don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”

  She nodded, but I doubted that she would. She was one of those quiet, shy girls, in spite of being a cheerleader.

  I needed to talk to Alec. I would get a lecture, but he needed to know. This would explain the scratches and bruises on Todd’s face and chest. It also might explain who killed him if Amy’s dad had as bad a temper as she said he did. And I believed her.

  --17--

  I saw Alec driving down Maine Street, and I followed him. I had a hunch as to where he was going, and I was right. He pulled into a parking spot at RG Plumbing Supply, and I pulled into the parking spot next to his.

  “Allie?” he said when he got out of his car.

  “Hey Alec, fancy meeting you here,” I said with a big smile. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  He sighed loudly. “Really? It’s such a mystery to you, isn’t it?”

  “Uh huh,” I said, and closed my car door. “I have a leaky faucet and I need to see if Rudy has thingamajigs to fix it.”

  He shook his head at me, but he had a smile on his face.

  “Hey,” I said, hurrying over to his side, and whispering. “Rudy’s daughter is a cheerleader at the high school and I happened to run in to her yesterday afternoon. Todd Spellman was a real class A creep. He had a thing for her and was stalking her. She said he grabbed her under the bleachers at a football game and they struggled. That explains the scratches and bruises on Todd’s face and neck.”

  Alec leaned back against his car and thought about it. “Do you think she was capable of murdering Todd?”

  “Not really. I could be wrong, but she’s a tiny little girl, and pretty timid. I always thought of cheerleaders as being self-confident, but she doesn’t seem to be. She did say that her father has a pretty nasty temper, and he knew Todd was stalking her.”

  “There weren’t any police reports concerning Todd Spellman in the system. Could be her father decided to handle it on his own,” he said.

  “Exactly,” I said. “But to be honest, if he did do it, I think you should let him go.”

  He looked at me, wide-eyed. “What do you mean?”

  I shrugged. “He did the community a favor. A teen girl stalker and all around jerk? I’m not usually in favor of murder, but good riddance.”

  “I never would have expected to hear that coming out of your mouth, Allie McSwain.”

  Now I felt bad. “Sorry. I guess that is horrible. But the murder has already been committed. If you said someone was going to go and murder a teen girl stalker and all around jerk, I’d say arrest the stalker and all around jerk, and save everyone the trouble. But the murder has already been committed. Does that make me a bad person?”

  He shook his head. “No, I think that makes you one of millions that would feel that way. I try not to take anything criminals do, personally. It’s easier if you don’t have an opinion and just do your job and arrest the bad guy. Todd may have been a bad guy. But if Rudy Gallo killed him, so is he.”

  “Okay. I’ll try not to take things personally, but it’s hard to do when you have a daughter only a year older than Amy Gallo. Jennifer is a little timid herself, and I guess I was imagining the same thing happening to her.”

  “Understandable,” he said and stood up straight. “Now, why don’t you go shop for your thingamajig and I’m going to see if I can have a word with Rudy Gallo.”

  I headed into the shop, and Alec stayed behind. It was good thinking. I could shop for whatever it was I was looking for and he would look like he wasn’t with me. Which, technically, he wasn’t. Maybe I would be able to overhear part of the conversation.

  “Good morning Allie,” Rudy said from one of the far aisles. He had a cart stacked with small cardboard boxes and it looked like he was putting stock away.

  “Good morning Rudy,” I called, and went down the aisle next to where he was working. The shelves were high enough that he couldn’t see me and I hoped he would forget I was in there.

  “Can I help you find something,” he called.

  “No, that’s okay. I think I got it,” I answered.

  I heard the bell above the door tinkle and I knew Alec was here. I just hoped he got what he needed from Rudy.

  “Good morning, Rudy Gallo?” I heard him say.

  “Yeah, that’s me,” Rudy answered. I could hear a reserve in his voice.

  “I’m detective Blanchard with Sandy Harbor police department. I need to ask you a few questions.”

  “What for?” Rudy asked.

  “Mr. Gallo, how well did you know Todd Spellman?”

  Rudy swore under his breath. “He was a piece of trash.”

  “I see,” Alec said, as calm as always. “Did you have many dealings with him?”

  “As few as possible,” he answered.

  It looked like Rudy wasn’t going to volunteer anything. I leaned in closer. The aisle I was in had toilet parts. The dust was thick on some of the items and I suddenly felt a sneeze coming on. I pinched my nose to stop it.

  “Can you be more specific?” Alec asked. I could picture him over there with his notepad and pen in hand, calmly making his notes.

  “I tried to take out a loan to buy a new house. He said he recommended that I not get the loan. I asked him why, and he said he didn’t think I should have a new house.”

  “Why did he say that?” Alec asked.

  “How should I know? That guy was nuts,” Rudy said.

  “And this made you angry?” Alec asked.

  “Yeah it made me angry. Who the hell is he to say if I should have a new house? My business is the only plumbing business for miles around. Everyone comes here for plumbing parts. I do all right and I wouldn’t have a problem paying for a new house. I went over to the Wells Fargo in Bangor and got approved right away,” Rudy said bitterly.

  “It seems odd that he would want business to go to some other bank in another town,” Alec observed.

  “He was an idiot. I don’t know how he ever got to be bank manager,” Rudy said. “He should have been fired for the way he treated people, but you know, people like that always manage to get ahead. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

  “Did you have any other contact with him?” Alec asked without commenting.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I did. He had a thing for my little girl. I came home from work one day and he was at my door. He had his foot in it so my daughter couldn’t close it. He was a piece of work!” Rudy was getting louder. I could hear the anger in his voice and I hoped there weren’t any other people in the store. I hadn’t thought to look when I first came in.

  “What did you do?”

  “I told him if he ever came around my daughter again, I’d kill him!” he said angrily. “Oh. Now wait a minute. I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t you go gettin’ any ideas. That was just a figure of speech,” he said, now trying to soften what he said.

  “And did you have any other encounters with him?” Alec asked as if he hadn’t heard what he said about killing Todd.

  “No. I kept my distance and told my daughter to do the same. I didn’t mean it about killing him,” he said in a calm tone.

  “I understand, sometimes things get heated and things are said that you don’t mean. Say, there was a rumor going around town that someone went and busted out all of Todd’s windows back in September. You didn’t hear anything about that, did you?” Alec asked.

  “Wh-what? No! No, I don’t know anything about any busted windows. I never heard a thing.”

  Rudy sounded flustered now, and I thought we knew who had broken Todd’s windows. I didn’t really blame him much.

  “I appreciate your cooperation, Mr. Gallo. I’ll be in touch,” Alec said and I heard him turn and head for the door.

  “Hey! Hey, I didn’t do nothin’ to that freak!” Rudy called after him.

  Alec didn’t answer him. I heard the bell over
the door tinkle and I knew Alec was gone. Now I had the problem of getting out of there without Rudy remembering I had been here and had heard the whole thing.

  I heard Rudy muttering and heard his shuffling footsteps receding. I realized he was heading for the storeroom, so I tip-toed toward the front door. I peeked around a display and the coast was clear, so I made a run for the door and was out before Rudy remembered I was in there.

  Alec was still sitting in his car, so I got in the passenger side and closed the door. “So what do you think?”

  “I think there’s definitely something there. It looks like the girl was telling the truth and Rudy does seem to have a temper,” he said calmly gazing at the side door of Rudy’s shop.

  “Sounds like it to me, too,” I said. “I think he did it.”

  “You always think everyone did it,” he said, glancing at me.

  “We haven’t got any other suspects, so it seems like a good guess to me.”

  “That’s true, but I try not to rely too heavily on guesses,” he said.

  “Where to now?” I asked.

  “I am going to interview George Dillard and see if he really hated Todd as much as Jane Marshall said he did,” he answered.

  “Great! Two interrogations in one day,” I said.

  “And you can’t come long,” he said.

  “Awe,” I said, crestfallen. “Oh, but you know, I do need to get some Pepsi,” I said brightening. “I heard it’s on sale at the Gas and Go.”

  Alec sighed, and I got out of his car and got into mine.

  --18--

  The Gas and Go’s gas tanks were roped off in yellow tape and a big moving truck was parked in front of the store. It looked like George Dillard hadn’t been able to get a loan to fix them after all. I usually bought gas at the station on Cypress, and I hadn’t been over on this side of town in a while.

  I parked on the far side of the building, and Alec followed me over and parked beside me.

  “Doesn’t look good,” I said, getting out of my car.

  “Sure doesn’t,” he agreed, and we walked into the store together.

  It was shocking to see almost empty shelves. A handful of people milled about, picking through the leftovers.

  “Why are all the cans dented?” a little old lady asked, holding up a can of peaches with its side nearly caved in.

  “That’s the way it came,” replied the freckled face kid that was leaning on the register. He didn’t look old enough to be out of school and working and I wondered if he was George’s kid.

  “I don’t think that’s true,” the older lady muttered, and put the can back on the shelf.

  I spotted George leaning against a wall, watching a man in a Pepsi uniform unplug a Pepsi refrigerator.

  I nodded at Alec and motioned toward George.

  Alec headed toward him. “Mr. Dillard?” he asked. I followed along behind him, hoping I wouldn’t be noticed and told not to come along.

  George looked at him, assessing. “Ayup,” he finally said.

  “Mr. Dillard, I’m Detective Blanchard, may I have a few words with you?”

  George shrugged, but still leaned against the wall. I stepped forward. “George, I didn’t know you were going out of business.”

  Alec glanced at me, but didn’t say anything.

  He snorted. “Neither did I. But apparently when you don’t pass inspection and your tanks are leaking, you lose your license to sell gas. Without tanks, there isn’t much point in a gas station.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. I knew George from around town. I really couldn’t remember when the first time was that I had met him.

  “Mr. Dillard, did you know Todd Spellman?” Alec asked.

  George swore up a blue streak and then spit on the floor. Todd seemed to have that effect on people.

  “Yeah, I knew him. And if you ask me, he got what he had comin’. This town is better off without him,” he said.

  The Pepsi man suddenly got in a hurry to put the refrigerator on his hand truck and get it out of the store. He nearly hit a store shelf on his way out.

  Alec had the notebook out. “Those are rather strong words, Mr. Dillard. Would you care to elaborate on why you feel that way?”

  “Oh, come on! Everyone knows Todd Spellman was a back stabber. He would come on all friendly to you and tell you to come down and get a loan to expand your business. Then, he goes and tells the loan department at the bank not to give you the loan!” George’s face had quickly turned a bright shade of red and I could see where Jane Marshall had been concerned that he might have a stroke when he had gotten into an argument with Todd at the bank.

  “I see. Mr. Dillard, did you ever see Todd Spellman on a personal basis? Did you ever go to his home?” Alec asked, scribbling in his notebook and not looking up at him.

  “Oh, yeah, sure. He had a barbecue for business owners a while back. He kept talking up all the good deeds he did. Always talking about charitable contributions he was making. Then he tried to get everyone to give him money for some charity he was starting up. Had the nerve to ask for one thousand dollars from everyone in the room!”

  “What kind of charity?” I asked. I knew Todd had been involved in all sorts of civic endeavors and had even organized a March of Dimes Walk several years ago, but that was all I was aware of.

  “Oh, he had some high falutin’ name for it. Something like Peace Keepers of Maine or something stupid like that. He planned to raise all this money and then distribute it to different charities. His plan was to get local business owners to donate and then he would advertise the business owners that did. But if you wanted to be included, you had to give big on a regular basis,” he said and snorted. “Distribute it! Sure, that’s how he paid for that new BMW!”

  I glanced at Alec. Todd had bought a new BMW several weeks before he died. It looked like it was top of the line and I had wondered how he managed to pay for it the first time I saw it. I hadn’t given it another thought after that.

  “Did many business owners decide to contribute?” Alec asked.

  George shrugged. “I don’t know. Some of them weren’t too happy about what he was asking for. One thousand to start it off, then five hundred a month to stay included. I said no thanks. Then I had the inspection and went for the loan and was turned down. It doesn’t take a genius to know why.”

  “Why didn’t you go to another bank and get a loan?” I asked.

  He sighed heavily. “Because. My credit is crap. I already had one loan on the business and I was late on a couple of payments. Maybe a few. But I tell you, it ain’t right to extort money and tell people it’s for charity and spend it on yourself.”

  “Mr. Dillard, do you have anything to add as far as Todd Spellman’s death? Maybe you’ve heard something around town?” Alec asked.

  He shook his head. “No. But whoever done it, done us all a favor.”

  Alec watched him for a few moments, thinking. “It’s rumored that someone broke out all of Todd Spellman’s windows in his house. You wouldn’t happen to know who did that, would you?”

  George smiled big. “Are you asking if I did it? No. I didn’t do it. But if I had known someone was going over there to do it, I would have gladly gone along to help.”

  “All right, thank you for your time,” Alec said. “I’ll be in touch.”

  “Sorry for your trouble, George,” I said as I turned to leave.

  “Ah, it ain’t nothin’. I’ll pick up and start over somewhere else. I guess with my track record with money, it was bound to happen.”

  “I’m sorry just the same,” I said and followed Alec out.

  We leaned up against my car, out of sight of the store windows. “Well, he didn’t hold anything back,” I said.

  “It doesn’t appear that he did. Right now, it looks like we’ve got two people that had motive to kill Todd Spellman,” he said thoughtfully.

  “I still have to wonder about that phone call I got. Connie wasn’t very friendly when I brought cookie
s to her. It just makes me wonder,” I said.

  “Connie Sutton didn’t want your cookies?” Alec asked with one eyebrow cocked.

  “I don’t know what her problem was. I was just being neighborly. They had a bunch of boxes with paperwork lying around the living room.”

  “Well, I would imagine they have a lot to sort through,” he said, being pragmatic again.

  “I guess so,” I relented. “What’s next?”

  “What’s next is that you are going to stay out of trouble,” he said.

  “Hey, what about checking at the lumber yard to see if anyone bought lumber for a deer stand?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “It’s deer season. How many people do you think have done that and actually went hunting deer and not people? And besides, the lumber was old.”

  “Sorry, I forgot. I guess it’s pointless to see how many deer rifles were sold then?” I said, already knowing the answer.

  “I would imagine so,” he said.

  “Oh, I almost forgot! We’re having dinner at Lucy’s tonight at six. Pick me up?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Sounds like a plan.”

  --19--

  Alec had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand in mine as we drove over to Lucy’s. I thought I would never be this happy again. It had been such a short time we had known each other, but I felt as if we had always known each other.

  “You know what I want to do for Christmas?” I asked him.

  “What?”

  “Take a trip to Alabama to introduce you to my mama,” I said, looking at him. I fought back the thoughts that said I was rushing things. I wasn’t. And I knew it.

  “Really?” he asked, glancing at me.

  “Yes. Really. We’ll take the kids. It’s been a couple of years since Thad has gone. I’ll show you the kitchen where my grandmama taught me to bake pies and the lake where my older brother taught me to fish.”

  He smiled, eyes on the road. “That sounds like fun.”

  “I think you’ll like it there. We’ll have to teach you to say ya’ll,” I said.