A Candidate For Murder (Old Maids of Mercer Island Mysteries Book 2) (21 page)

Blair and I locked eyes. What were the chances?

Slowly, the four of us stood and turned sheepishly toward the voice, as the four bystanders with cell phones stepped aside.

“Well, well, well…this is our lucky day, wouldn’t you say, Roy?”

Just our luck. It was Officers Mosley and Hager again. Officer Hager had her hands on her hips and her mouth set into a grim smile. But her eyes weren’t laughing.

“Ladies, it’s nice to see you again. I see you brought some friends to the party this time. Care to explain?”

The officers split us up and then called for backup. Another squad car arrived. They filled in the new officers on the situation and then cleared one half of the restaurant. They took over a couple of tables on the other side of the room and set up shop to interview everyone.

While one officer watched us, Officer Mosley and a second officer began with the witnesses, including the owner. Officer Hager began with Sonja, while we sat wiping barbeque sauce off our hands and faces, and Rudy sat back to read the local newspaper as if nothing was wrong.

I watched Sonja for a moment, wondering what she must have been like in the days she worked for Mr. Peabody. She must have been pretty once. She had good bone structure and intelligent eyes. But the ever-dutiful housekeeper had aged badly. Her skin was puffy and mottled, as if she had been a heavy drinker. Probably in her late sixties, deep lines pulled her facial features into a haggard look, making me think she’d lived a hard, angry life. I thought Dana had probably been partly responsible for that.

Sonja immediately threw us under the bus, screaming loudly that Dana, Blair and I had all attacked her. Dana tried to break in at one point to straighten out her recounting of the incident, but was shushed by Officer Hager as she gestured for a young, skinny officer to move in closer to keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, I felt along the upper part of my cheek-bone while I waited. It smarted just below my right eye, and I thought I might have a bruise where Dana had smacked me.

By the time Officer Hager got around to Dana, she was practically hyperventilating.

“That woman is a murderer,” Dana exclaimed loudly, pointing at Sonja as she marched over to the table.

Sonja jumped to her feet in defense. “I am not! I had nothing to do with that.”

Officer Hager turned to Sonja and pointed at the chair behind her. “Sit down and don’t move again.”

Officer Hager interviewed Dana for a good ten minutes, while Sonja sat and steamed. We could only hear snippets of Dana’s conversation, but she was overly animated while she talked, and I really did wonder what kind of tale she was weaving, even if she was being honest. At one point, she raised her voice and said, “I’m telling the truth. Just ask Julia.” And then she pointed at me.

Officer Hager turned to me. “We’ll be talking with Ms. Applegate and Ms. Wentworth very soon,” she said. She turned back to Dana, spoke to her softly and then released her. Dana got up and walked rigidly back to her seat, all the time glowering at Sonja.

I was called over next, and since Officer Mosley had finished with the customers, he called for Blair.

“Dana is right, you know,” I said to Officer Hager when I sat down. “That woman was trying to blackmail her.”

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“I’ve seen the blackmail note. The Mercer Island police have it now. You can call Detective Abrams at the Mercer Island Police Department,” I said. “Dana gave him the blackmail note this morning.”

“I’ll do that. But let’s get back to the altercation…your
second
altercation, I might add,” she emphasized. “What happened?”

“To understand all of this, you have to hear it from the beginning.”

I explained about Trudy Bascom’s murder and the threat to Dana. Officer Hager politely listened and took notes, but finally interrupted.

“Ms. Applegate, what I’m trying to understand is why you and your friends are involved in this investigation in the first place. The Mercer Island police are perfectly capable of handling it. They do have trained detectives, you know. I doubt very much that they need your help.”

I ignored the affront. “Dana came to us on her own. She thought we might have resources the police wouldn’t.”

“Like what?” she said without trying to hide her cynicism.

I puffed up at this. “You may think we’re just a bunch of old busybodies, but I’ll have you know that the Mayor of Mercer Island actually bestowed honorary awards on us last year for helping with a murder investigation.”

“Very nice, I’m sure,” she said with a slight roll of her eyes. “But I doubt the police will appreciate your meddling. Now let’s keep going. How in the world did you settle on Ms. Kyes as your blackmailer? Mrs. Finkle said something about the smell of the blackmail note.”

“Yes. Our friend, Doe,” I said, nodding in her direction. “She recognized the smell of the barbeque sauce in here.” I flared my nostrils and glanced around. “I’m sure you can smell it. It’s quite distinctive. Almost overpowering, I’d say.”

“So you came over here, and Mrs. Finkle recognized Ms. Kyes?”

“That’s right. They have a history.”
“What do you mean?”

I shrugged. “You’d have to ask Dana. I’d only be repeating what she told us. But it sounds like Sonja really does have a reason to hate Dana enough to want some kind of revenge.”

“According to Mrs. Finkle, you and Ms. Wentworth were just trying to stop the fight. Is that right?”

“Yes. Dana did go after Sonja. I don’t think she meant to hurt her, but she was mad, and before we knew it, they were at each other’s throats. So Blair and I tried to intercede.” I reached up and fingered the goo in my hair. “Unfortunately, we weren’t very successful.”

Officer Hager sat back and closed her notebook. “All right. You can go back to your friends. I need to talk with Officer Mosley a moment.”

She got up and joined Officer Mosley, who had just finished with Blair. As Blair and I returned to our seats, Mosley and Hager huddled up to compare notes. They called the owner over at one point and then once again, Officer Mosley pulled out his cell phone. He had a brief conversation with someone, and then they both turned and came over to us.

“All right. We’ve confirmed much of what you’ve told us with the Mercer Island police. They’re on their way over and asked that you sit tight until they get here,” she said. “Especially you two,” she said, glancing at me and Dana. “The owner will be filing a complaint, and you’ll have to reimburse him for broken dishes and some lost revenue. We’ll be in touch on that. But we have a few more questions for Ms. Kyes,” she said, eyeing Sonja.

“What?
She
attacked
me!
” Sonja yelled, standing up and pointing at Dana again.

“There’s the little matter of a blackmail note,” Officer Hager said.

Sonja’s jaw dropped open a notch. “I…uh…don’t know what you…”

“Please step over here,” Officer Hager said, gesturing for Sonja to return to the interview table.

Sonja turned to Dana. “This is all your fault. You killed Mr. Peabody. Took my inheritance. And now someone is trying to kill you. You deserve it.” She almost spit out this last part and then cast a hateful glance at all of us, before slumping her way back across the room.

At least now the police would question her on the real issue. Meanwhile, we were allowed to close ranks. I got up to use the restroom, where I attempted to make myself look presentable in case it was David who was making the trip over to Renton. As I was using a damp paper towel to wipe dirt and barbeque sauce from along my jawline, Blair, Rudy and Doe all opened the door and crowded in with me.

“Where’s Dana?” I asked in surprise.

“We told her she had to stay there,” Rudy said. “Are you okay?”

I threw the towel away, ran my fingers through my hair and then turned away from the mirror to face my friends.

“Let’s face it, we’re going to get a tongue-lashing,” I replied. “This couldn’t have turned out more wrong. Detective Abrams and David were prepared to trap Sonja in the act, and now they can’t.”

“They can compare fingerprints from the note,” Rudy said hopefully.

“Yes, but each one of us also handled that note. So who knows if they’ll be able to find a viable print?” I sighed. “We may have really screwed this up.”

“Along with your romance,” Blair said, leaning against the sink. “We’re really sorry, Julia.”

I looked at my friends. Blair and I both looked like we’d been mugged by a four-year old with gooey fingers, while Doe and Rudy just looked defeated.

“Maybe we’re carrying this murder investigation stuff too far,” Doe said. “We should have just told Dana no from the beginning.”

“Yeah,” Rudy agreed. “Let’s face it. Once they’d caught Sonja in the act, Dana could have ID’d her. We jumped the gun.” We all shifted our gaze to her. “Sorry, no jokes about Dana and guns this time,” she said, her hands up in a defensive gesture.

“What do you want to do, Julia? My gut says we ought to get out of here. Technically, they can’t hold us.”

I sighed. “Yes, but it’s not as if the Mercer Island police don’t know where we live. I say we wait and take our medicine. And then, frankly, I’m going home to take a shower.”

Fortunately, it was only Detective Abrams who came to Renton. I couldn’t help but wonder why David hadn’t accompanied him. Had he just given up on me? Did I embarrass him that much?

Abrams sat us down on the far side of the room, his broad shoulders hunched as he clasped his hands together on the table. “Okay,” he began slowly. It was clear he was making a vain attempt at hiding his irritation. “How did we get here?”

“It was Doe’s nose,” Blair blurted out.

He glanced up at her and then over at Doe, who lifted those graceful brows. “I suppose you didn’t notice,” she said.

“Notice what?” Detective Abrams said.

“The smell of barbeque sauce on the note,” she replied. “It comes from this restaurant.”

He shot her a look of total skepticism. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Don’t you smell it?” Blair asked.

His blue eyes roamed briefly around the room, as if the smell would be plastered on the walls. But I saw his nose twitch, so I knew he was taking a whiff.

“And?” he encouraged us to continue.

“And she was here,” Rudy replied. “Just like we figured.”

“Sonja Kyes,” Dana added. He shifted his attention to Dana, who withered under his gaze.

“And just who is Sonja Kyes?” he asked.

“She was the housekeeper at Mr. Peabody’s,” she replied.

“Keep going,” Detective Abrams said.

Dana looked at all of us, and I felt the other shoe was about ready to drop.

“She…uh…came home that day…the day Mr. Peabody died. She came home just as he was choking on his lunch.”

Detective Abrams’ eyes narrowed. “Let me guess? And she watched
you
watch
him
die?”

She lowered her head. “Yes. She was too late to help. But then she found out he had also taken her out of the will. She was originally supposed to get it all. She’d been his employee long before I came to work there.”

Detective Abrams sat back. “So let me get this straight. She witnessed you doing nothing to save the old man, and then suffered a second blow when you knocked her out of the will? Do I have that right?”

Dana merely nodded.

“And now you think that she’s blackmailing you?”

“Yes,” Dana said.

“But none of you actually know if she had anything to do with Trudy Bascom’s death?” he asked, looking around the table at us.

“No,” we all murmured.

He shook his head and stood up. “Okay. We’re in the process of fingerprinting the note. Hopefully, that will tell us if she is, in fact, the blackmailer. According to the Renton police, you’ll owe the restaurant owner some money to replace items here. You also may face some complaints from some of the people who got caught in the crossfire. But for now, go home and let us take it from here. And I do mean
let us
take it from here,” he said forcefully. “Think you can do that? Because I could book you for obstruction.”

He stood up, towering over us. This magnified the demeaning look he cast about the group. I felt like I was in elementary school and had just been called to the principal’s office, where my father was now lecturing me before taking me home. But there were a lot of relieved confirmations from the group as each of us grabbed purses and made ready to leave.

As we stood up, Detective Abrams placed his hands on his hips and leveled a severe look at each one of us. “And this time it’s an order. Because next time, I’ll let them put you in jail.”

÷

Dana and I drove back to the island in silence. I was thinking about David and the fact that he hadn’t come to Renton. I felt my relationship with him was falling apart, and it made me sad.

Doe split off to take Blair and Rudy home, while Dana and I continued toward the Inn. Dana finally spoke up as we pulled onto N. Mercer Way to bypass downtown.

“You think I’m a horrible person, don’t you?”

I glanced her way. “You do seem to relish taking advantage of other people,” I replied. “Why is that?”

She seemed to think a minute, as if deciding how much to say. “Because I’m just like my mother,” she said. “She was someone who just never seemed to get enough. She left my father because he couldn’t give her everything she wanted. So we moved from place to place, living off one man or another until she’d gotten tired of them, too.” She paused and watched the trees flash by on her side of the car.

“So she was a con artist,” I said.

She shot me a demoralized glance. “Not really a con artist. She just used people. She grew up in the Depression and had nothing, so she resented anyone who had more than she did and was always on the hunt to take it away from them.”

We were getting close to the Roanoke Inn and a couple miles from home.

“In fact, when I was thirteen,” Dana said. “We were living with her most recent boyfriend, and…”

There was a loud pop from somewhere off to our right and the rear window cracked. We both screamed. I swerved, nearly hitting an oncoming car. At the last moment, I yanked the wheel to the right. My Pathfinder swiped past the oncoming car with only inches to spare, and then I cranked the wheel to the left to avoid a mailbox. The Pathfinder bounced to a stop, crosswise in the middle of the road.

Dana was still screaming. I had trouble catching my breath and threw my right arm out and smacked her in the chest. “Stop it! We’re okay.”

She sucked it up and went silent, while I took a deep breath and glanced out my window. The car I’d almost hit had stopped fifty feet behind us. Both doors opened and a man and a woman got out and ran up to us. I opened my door.

“Are you okay?” the man asked.

“Yes,” I forced myself to say, taking another deep breath. “What happened?”

He glanced at the back window and then grabbed his companion and pulled her in close. “I think someone shot at you.”

I stared at a big hole in my back window. All three of us instinctively huddled behind the car, while he reached for his cell phone. I told Dana to duck down, just in case.

I peered through the car windows at the dense foliage on the opposite side of the road, searching for someone with a gun. But on this part of the island, roads ran off in all directions and homes were hidden by an abundance of trees and bushes. Whoever had shot at us was probably long gone.

A few minutes later, we were explaining the situation to a patrol officer. We were taken to the Mercer Island Police Station, while other officers stayed with the car and blocked off the road. Eventually, David showed up.

“Julia, are you all right?” he asked, coming over and putting his hands on my shoulders.

Suddenly he was all compassion and concern. Inside, I glowed.

“Yes, I’m fine. Neither one of us was hurt.” He reached out and touched my bruised cheek. “No. That was from the brawl over in Renton,” I said, flinching.

We gave him all the details we could remember, but there wasn’t much to tell. David took notes. “Okay, I’ll have an officer take you home, while we process the crime scene. We need to keep your car for now.”

“I don’t want to go home!” Dana blurted.

We turned to her. Dana’s normally haughty demeanor had evaporated and been replaced by real fear. The last few days had finally taken its toll. I realized she had circles under her eyes, and she was visibly shaking.

“We’ll put a car out front,” David said. “You’ll be fine.”

“No!” she demanded. “Clay left for Bellingham this morning. I can’t stay alone.”

Her voice vibrated with emotion, and suddenly I heard myself saying something I thought I’d never have to say. “She can stay at the Inn.” David looked at me in surprise, but I just shrugged my shoulders. “It’s okay,” I said. “We had a cancellation this morning, so there’s an extra room. But I’d appreciate that car out front. Just not too noticeable, if you know what I mean.”

David nodded and stood up. “Okay. Get your stuff. I’ll have an officer drive you home in an unmarked car and then stay close by.”

He disappeared into the hallway. A few minutes later, he was back.

“Officer Capshaw will meet you in the lobby,” he said. “C’mon, let’s go.”

As we moved down the hallway to the entrance, David reached out and let his fingers briefly grab my hand. My heart almost exploded.

“Are you really okay, Julia? I heard about what happened in Renton.”

Our fingers touched for only a moment and then we both self-consciously retreated.

“I’m fine. Just a little shaken.” I glanced up at him. “How come you didn’t come over there with Detective Abrams?”

He pressed his luscious lips together in a grimace. “Because we have other open cases we’re working. And Sean has already suggested once that he might take me off this case.”

My eyes popped open in surprise. “Why would he do that?”

David stopped with a hand on my arm. We allowed Dana to shuffle her way into the lobby.

“Because he’s very aware that you and I are…well, dating.”

I tossed my head. “I think you can hardly call it dating. We’ve only been out together once, and that was interrupted by this murder investigation.”

The hurt look on his face made me immediately regret my remark. “Regardless, we have a personal relationship,” he said crisply. “And it can prove awkward. As it is right now.”

He started to move away, but I grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry, David. I want nothing more than to resume our…relationship. I just have to get Dana…” I said, glancing at her sulking in the lobby, “out of my life.”