5 A Bad Egg (13 page)

“I’m glad,”
Moose said. As we headed up the steps toward the parking lot, he added, “Next
stop, the auto repair shop. I just hope Wayne’s done with sleuthing for now so
we can hear what he’s found so far.”

“If not,
we’ll track him down later, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Agreed,”
Moose said, and we took off toward the shop to ask another amateur sleuth what
he’d been able to uncover, and then ask him to stop digging. Moose was right. It
was a dangerous tightrope to walk, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t worth
attempting.

I hated to
see anyone risking their lives trying to find a murderer, and if that was
inconsistent with the way that Moose and I ran our own lives, I could live with
that.

Chapter 11

“We’re in
luck,” Moose said as he pulled into the parking lot. “There’s Wayne’s truck
right there. How do you want to handle this? Are you going to come out and call
him
a murderer, too, or is that just
something you saved for Sam Jackson?”

“I told you,
I admit that I was wrong the way I handled him. Besides, I don’t think Wayne
did it.”

“Why, just
because he’s following Jessie Blackstone around town? That doesn’t mean that
he’s innocent of the murder.”

“How could it
not?” I asked.

“Here’s
something that you haven’t considered. What if Wayne killed Gordon, and he’s
afraid that Jessie knows. Who knows? Maybe she saw something that she didn’t
connect to the murder right away, and he’s waiting to see if she figures it
out? If Wayne is the murderer, what’s to keep him from killing her, too, to
shut her up?”

“Wow, you
really do have a dark mind sometimes, don’t you?” I asked.

“Tell me that
I’m wrong. I’ve always liked Wayne.”

I thought
about it for a minute, and then I said, “No, when I look at things that way,
you could be right. We need to be careful when we talk to him.”

Moose looked
surprised by my admission. “Are you really considering my idea? Are you willing
to change your mind that quickly?”

“Of course I
am,” I said. “I’m a big enough woman to admit that I might have been wrong.”

“Wow, there
was enough wiggle room in that statement to allow you full deniability that you
ever said it,” Moose said with a smile.

“Let’s just
go talk to Wayne, okay?” I asked with a smile.

“Yes, ma’am.
I’m ready if you are,” Moose said.

We got out of
the truck and walked inside the shop. It wasn’t going to be the most
comfortable conversation that we’d ever had with a suspect, but then again, it
was never easy asking someone about their capacity to commit murder. To add
another layer of difficulty to it, we were going to ask Wayne for information
about one of our other suspects, Jessie Blackstone. I was glad that my
grandfather was with me. This could get tricky, but between the two of us,
maybe we’d figure out a way to get the truth out of one of our suspects.

It would make
for a nice change of pace if we were successful this time.

“Wayne, do
you have a second?” I asked the mechanic as we walked into his office.

“Sorry, but
I’m trying to catch up on some of this paperwork,” Wayne said as he fanned
through the stack of papers on his desk.

“In a way,
that’s what this is about.”

“How’s that?”
Wayne asked.

“We know why
you’re behind in your work,” Moose said.

Wayne pushed back
from his desk and stared at us in turn. He tried his best to smile, but it came
out timid. “Hey, business is good. What can I say?”

“Well, it’s
hard to do your paperwork when you’re out tailing suspects in Gordon Murphy’s
murder case,” I said.

Wayne’s gaze
left us for a moment and returned to his desktop. “I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

“You’re not
as good at tailing people as you might think,” I said. “I saw you at the diner
this morning. Did you learn anything particularly useful following Jessie
Blackstone around town?”

“You really
saw that?” he asked with disdain. “I thought I was being clever and crafty.”

“I’m not
saying that
she
knew that you were
tailing her,” I said, trying to save the man a little face. “But it was pretty
obvious when she left the diner that you were following her.”

“I’ve got a
hunch that woman is up to something,” Wayne said. “She’s not the innocent lamb
she wants people to believe that she is. You didn’t see her at Ellen’s the
night before Gordon was murdered.”

“What do you
mean?” Moose asked.

“She was
clearly uneasy around her fiancé,” he said. “Jessie might have the big bank
account, but it was clear who was running the show between them. If I didn’t
know any better, I’d say that she was afraid of Gordon. It’s no great stretch
to think that she might have killed him to protect herself, but you two haven’t
even considered her as one of your suspects, have you?”

“As a matter
of fact,” Moose said, “she’s pretty high on our list right now. Why wouldn’t
she be? She was the closest person to him, and Gordon seemed to generate
contempt wherever he went. We’re not rank amateurs, you know.”

“I didn’t
think you were giving her much credence as a suspect; that’s all.”

“Did you
learn anything following her around town?” Moose asked.

“She didn’t
do anything all that suspicious at first, but then she met up with Cal Davies
from The Harbor Inn. The reason I know him at all is because of the old junk
cars he drives. I keep the man on the road most of the time, so I’ve gotten to
know him pretty well over the years.”

“It might not
be all that significant after all. They know each other, so it’s no surprise
that they chatted,” I said. “After all, that’s where Gordon and Jessie were
staying. Why wouldn’t they talk?”

“You don’t
understand,” Wayne said. “There was something odd going on there. She looked
everywhere around when they met, and I thought for a second that they spotted
me, but fortunately, I managed to duck back behind a tree at the last second,
so they didn’t catch me spying on them.”

“Did you
manage to overhear anything?” I asked him.

“A little.
She handed him a fat envelope, and then she said that was it. He wasn’t going
to get any more, so he should consider that his final payment.”

That was
indeed strange. “How did he react to that?”

“He laughed
at her, but there wasn’t a hint of joy in it, if you know what I mean. He said
that he had one more coming, and that it wouldn’t be over until he said that it
was over. What’s she paying him off for, anyway? What could Cal have on a woman
like that?”

I didn’t
know, but I knew that we needed to find out. “So, the envelope was most likely
stuffed with cash.”

“I think
that’s exactly what it was. I deal with cash-only customers sometimes, and that
envelope was a size and shape that I’m not likely to mistake. It was a payoff,
plain and simple, and neither one of them wanted anyone at The Harbor to know
about it.”

“What are you
going to do with the information?” Moose asked Wayne.

“What do you
mean?”

“Are you
planning on pursuing this?”

Wayne shook
his head quickly. “No, I don’t have the stomach for it. To be honest with you,
I’m not cut out for this cloak-and-dagger stuff. I want to go back to running
my shop; do you know what I mean?”

“We do,” I
said. “Digging into murder can be an awfully dangerous hobby.”

Wayne sighed.
“Well, I for one am done with it, so I’ll happily leave it to you two.” He
paused, and then Wayne explained, “I just felt so helpless with Ellen, you
know? I had to do
something
for her.”

“Give her your
love and support,” I said. “That’s the
best
thing that you can do for her.”

“Yeah, you’re
probably right. Listen, I’d prefer it if you didn’t tell anyone what I just
told the two of you. I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.”

“Like the
murderer?” Moose asked with a grin.

“Exactly. I
didn’t really think about it much before, but it turns out that you two are a
lot braver than I am.” He let out a deep breath of air, and then Wayne added,
“Wow, I can’t tell you what an incredible weight that is off my shoulders. From
now on, I’m going to stick to what I know.”

“Sometimes I
think we should do the same thing,” I said.

“No, don’t do
that,” Wayne said. “You can’t imagine how much faith Ellen has in your ability
to track down Gordon’s killer. She’s counting on you two, not Sheriff Croft, to
find out who the murderer is.”

“We’re doing
our best,” Moose said. “But we can’t make any promises.”

“Just keep
trying. That’s all that counts.”

“Thanks,
Wayne.” I turned to my grandfather. “Are you ready to go?”

“In a second,”
he said. Moose flipped me the keys, and as I caught them, he said, “Go on out
to the truck. I’ll be right out.”

I was clearly
being dismissed, but I decided to give my grandfather some space. I walked out
to the truck, briefly considered getting in the driver’s side, but then I went
to the passenger door and got in there.

Moose came
out two minutes later, and I unlocked his door for him.

“What was
that all about?” I asked him.

“I just told
Wayne that there was no shame in stopping his investigation, and that Ellen
needed him by her side instead of out on a case that might get him killed.”

“Did you
happen to tell him that he was still on our list of suspects, too?” I asked.

“There was
really no need for me to do that,” Moose said as he took the keys from me and
started the truck. “He’s acting as Ellen’s protector, and I wanted to be sure
that he didn’t do anything else stupid.”

“
We
do stupid things all of the time,” I
said with a grin.

“That’s
because we’re seasoned investigators,” Moose replied. I could see the twinkle
in his eyes as he said it.

“But not
trained ones,” I answered.

“Our amateur
instincts are what help us with the cases we take on,” he said.

“Do you
honestly believe that?” I asked. I’d never really discussed our rationale for
investigating murder cases with my grandfather much before, and it proved to be
an enlightening conversation.

“I do,” he
said. “If the police’s methods of investigation are what are called for,
Sheriff Croft has a vast advantage over us. We can’t run license plates, or use
forensics, or implement the latest in police techniques. What we do have is a
knowledge of the people in our area, and a general understanding of what drives
ordinary people to murder.”

“Well, that
sounds about even to me,” I said sarcastically.

“You’re
kidding, but I’m deadly serious. If it comes down to it, I’ll bet on our
instincts before I’ll trust the police and all of the crime labs in the world.”

“So, you
don’t believe the prevailing theory that we’ve just been lucky in the past?” I
asked.

“Sometimes
luck is when preparation meets opportunity,” Moose said.

“Then what
opportunity are we going to take advantage of now?”

“We’re going
to The Harbor. I want to have another chat with Cal.”

“It sounds like
a plan to me,” I said. “What are we going to say once we get there?”

“Let’s just
wing it, shall we? After all, it’s worked for us so far.”

“It’s a
deal,” I said.

However, all
didn’t go according to plan when we got to the hotel complex, no matter how
unstructured our strategy might have been. One of my favorite expressions was
that Man plans, and God laughs. This was no different.

As Moose
started to pull into the only available parking spot near the inn, a security
guard waved him off.

Moose rolled
down his window and asked, “What seems to be the problem?”

“You can’t
park here, sir,” the man said as he crossed his arms, pinning his clipboard to
his chest. “It’s for guests of the inn and the grounds only.”

“How do you
know I’m not either one?” Moose asked.

The guard
tapped the clipboard. “I have your license number written down right here.
Apparently, you’ve been here before.”

“And that got
my name on your list?” Moose asked. “I have a right to be here.”

“While it’s
true that we can’t keep you from visiting us entirely, we certainly have the
privilege of telling you where you can park.”

“Where would
that be?” I asked.

The guard
pointed to a break in the trees three hundred yards away. “Do you see that gap
over there?”

Moose nodded.

“Well, you
need to drive through that opening, and a little past that, you’ll find a field
where you can park another two hundred yards away.”

“You’ve got
to be kidding me,” Moose said.

“Sorry. I’ve
got strict orders.” It was clear that he was enjoying ordering me and my grandfather
around.

“What are you
going to do if I park here anyway?” Moose asked him.

“Then we’ll
have to tow your truck,” he said, and there was no mistaking his smile this
time. He was clearly having the time of his life.

“Thanks.
We’ll move it,” I said.

The guard
seemed a little put off that we weren’t going to put up more of a fight. He
took a few steps back to see if we were indeed going to comply with his orders,
and from his expression, it was clear that he was hoping that my grandfather
was in a fighting mood.

“What do you
want to do?” I asked Moose.

“I’m not
letting that goon with a clipboard run me off,” Moose said.

“But you’re
not parking here, are you?”

“Victoria, I
have no desire to have my truck towed unless it’s broken down by the side of
the road. I’ll park where he wants me to, this time.”