A Killer Column (29 page)

“You’re in luck. Now talk.”

“But I’m still hungry,” he protested.

“If you don’t tell me everything you know, and I mean right now, I’m not even going to boil water for you.”

“Fine, I’ll cooperate.”

As I put his toast in the toaster and started scrambling his eggs, Zach said, “Murphy was pretty happy we taped Charlie on the porch. By the time they got to the station, Jenny’s neighbor was claiming that his confession had been coerced. Shawn watched the tape, and then showed it to Charlie. We caught him doing it, so there’s no denying it now.”

“I can’t believe Jenny has to live with that man right beside her.”

Zach grinned. “That’s one of the good parts. This morning, he was evicted from his rental, but not his jail cell. The owner’s going to move him out while he’s still in police custody, so Jenny won’t ever have to see him again.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said as I plated his eggs and added the toast. After I poured him a tall glass of orange juice, I asked, “Will there be anything else, sir?”

He surveyed it all with a smile. “No, this looks great.”

As he started to eat, I said, “We can wait with the questions and answers until after you’ve eaten.”

“No, I don’t mind talking while I eat,” he said, and then promptly took another bite.

“Did Murphy tell you anything about the case?”

Zach nodded, finished chewing a bite, and then took a sip of juice. “It turns out we can cross Sylvia off our list.”

“For the attempt on Kelsey,” I said.

“For both of them. Sylvia was in her room, on the house phone, talking to her interior decorator in Charlotte the entire time. The police confirmed it through phone records and a personal interview with the decorator.”

“Okay, then that’s good. Sylvia’s name gets crossed off. Did you find anything else out from him?”

Zach took one last bite, and then pushed his empty plate away. “That was great, Savannah. I was starving.”

“Running can do that to you,” I said. “What else did Murphy tell you about the case, Zach?”

My husband smiled softly. “It’s more of a hunch than a fact, but he’s got good instincts, so I’m willing to bet he’s on the money with it.”

“Don’t sit there grinning like a fool,” I said. “What did he tell you?”

“The police believe that the reason Mindi Mills moved to the Brunswick was so Cary Duncan could keep a closer eye on her. It’s odd that the widow’s paying the mistress’s way, isn’t it? Shawn is under the impression that Mindi thinks the relocation was her idea. He believes that Mindi is blackmailing Cary into paying her bill, and that’s just for starters. She knows something, he’s pretty sure of that. Nobody knows exactly what it is yet, but they’re digging into it, and Shawn has faith they’ll find out what it is, and fairly soon.”

“Could she have witnessed Cary killing her husband?” I asked.

“I suppose that’s one possibility.” He got up and rinsed his plate and glass, and then put them in the sink beside the mugs Jenny and I used. “It could be a secret Derrick told Mindi before he died, something that Cary doesn’t want to get out. Who knows?”

“Cary and Mindi do, at this point.”

“And we’ll know ourselves soon enough.”

“Then we can’t exactly strike their names off our list, can we?”

He shook his head. “No; besides Cary and Mindi, we’ve still got Kelsey and Brady.” Zach smiled at me and tapped me lightly on the cheek. “We’ve narrowed it down from six to four, though. I’d say that’s something, wouldn’t you?”

“If the police are focusing on Cary and Mindi, should we spend some time on Brady and Kelsey?”

He laughed, and I asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Sometimes it’s like you can read my mind,” Zach said as he wrapped me into his arms and kissed me.

L
UCKILY, WE FOUND KELSEY AND BRADY IN THE HOTEL restaurant and didn’t have to go upstairs to one of their rooms, or worse yet, chase them all over Raleigh.

“Mind if we join you?” I asked as I pulled out a chair at their table.

Zach took the last free seat. “That breakfast buffet looks great.”

I’d just fed him, but I knew my sweet husband was willing to take one for the team, especially if it meant he got to squeeze in an extra meal or two.

“Actually—” Kelsey started to say, when I interrupted her.

“It’s so sweet of you to make room for us. There’s a great deal we need to talk about, and this is the perfect time.”

Kelsey deferred to Brady, who nodded slightly. As soon as she had his approval, she smiled at me. “Of course you’re welcome to join us. What exactly do we need to discuss, though?”

“Our future working relationship,” I said. I really had nothing else I could use to get her to open up, so I was going to have to discuss things I’d rather not. “I don’t want us to end up like I did with Derrick.” Okay, that didn’t sound right.

“What Savannah is trying to say is that she doesn’t want there to be any acrimony between you,” Zach said.

I smiled tightly at him. Was he seriously going to start going around explaining me to people? “What Zach is trying to say is that he’s going to the buffet.”

Zach looked startled for a split second, and then turned to Brady. “Why don’t you join me so they can talk a little business?”

Brady didn’t look all that certain he wanted to be away from Kelsey, but I had to give my husband credit for trying to turn a negative into a positive. Though Brady didn’t seem pleased with Zach’s suggestion, he really had no choice as my husband put a hand under his arm and practically levitated him off his chair.

After they were gone, I said, “I need to talk to you for a second.”

“What is it? Do you have another problem with the way I’m running things?” Her emphasis on the word “another” gave me a moment’s pause. I had to let that go, though. This really wasn’t a business meeting; it was a fact-finding mission.

“No, as of now, we’re good. It’s about Derrick.”

She looked even more annoyed by the change in topic. “What about him? Can’t we just drop that subject and move on?”

“Soon,” I promised. “Once I get the answers to a few questions, I’ll be finished,” I said, which wasn’t exactly the truth, but how could she possibly know that?

“Go ahead,” Kelsey said, the exasperation clear in her voice. “I’m not sure what else I can tell you, but I’ll try.”

“How long was Derrick alone when you left to get your food the day he died?”

“How did you know I got his food for him first?” Kelsey asked.

I smiled at her and tried to soften my words. “Don’t forget, I worked for Derrick, too. I can’t imagine he’d let you eat before he was served.”

She nodded. “I was gone maybe twenty minutes,” Kelsey finally admitted.

“Hang on a second. You both ate from the hotel restaurant’s menu, right?”

“Yes, it was right there, and Derrick was in no mood to wait. He was so mad at you, Savannah. He told me that he thought you were being disloyal to him, and I honestly think it hurt his feelings.”

“He fired me, remember? And that’s after he tried to sell me to the highest bidder. Was he really that concerned about loyalty?”

“Maybe not,” Kelsey admitted after a moment.

“So, the question remains. Why did it take you twenty minutes to get your own food?”

Kelsey glanced at the buffet, and I saw her looking at Brady with an odd expression.

“You were waiting for him, weren’t you?” I asked.

“What?” she asked as she looked back at me. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t get your food sooner because you were waiting for Brady.”

“He was supposed to come back after his meeting with Derrick,” she protested, “but I waited twenty minutes, and he never showed up. We were so careful that no one knew about our relationship. You saw him walk right past me when Derrick fired him; he didn’t even glance in my direction.”

“In his defense, he’d just been blindsided. Did you know that was coming? It didn’t look like he’d been warned beforehand.”

“I had no idea what Derrick was up to, and that’s the truth,” Kelsey said. “You’ve got to believe me.”

I patted her hand. “I do,” I said, and I meant every word of it. If she’d known what was coming, she would have prepared Brady for it, and from our conversation before the meeting—and his reaction to it afterward—there was no way he knew anything for sure, though he did seem to suspect that something was awry when we’d first spoken.

The men came back to our table, and from the sparse amount of food on his plate, Zach had barely touched the buffet. Was it possible he was actually slowing down? My husband put his plate down, and then said, “I’m not feeling one hundred percent. Do you two mind if we do this another time?”

The enthusiasm of their agreement was almost obscene.

I wasn’t ready to go, but apparently my husband was.

After we were out in the lobby, I asked him, “Are you really sick?”

“Sick of them,” he said.

“I wasn’t finished with Kelsey.”

“Wait until you hear what I just learned. You’ll be thanking me in a second.”

“I doubt it, but go ahead and try.”

“Brady was supposed to meet Kelsey after she served Derrick his meal, but she never showed up.”

“Don’t look so smug,” I said. “Kelsey just told me the exact same thing about him.”

Zach frowned. “So, instead of giving each other an alibi, they’ve found a way to divide the suspicion between them.”

“It’s not a stupid tactic,” I said. “Who would a jury believe? If they could build up enough doubt about the other’s innocence, it could sway a pair of verdicts.”

Zach shook his head. “Why wouldn’t they just say they were together, if that’s the case? It’s a lot easier than casting suspicion on someone else.”

I shrugged. “I know; you’re absolutely right. It doesn’t make sense, at least not if they’re trying to cover for each other.”

“So you’re saying that either one of them could have done it,” Zach said.

“It makes sense that way,” I said as we moved to a corner of the lobby. “One of them is telling the truth, and the other is clearly lying.”

“Not necessarily. What if they both showed up for their little tryst, but got the location wrong?”

“So, we’re no further along than we were before,” I said.

“I wouldn’t say that. We know for sure now that either one of them could have done it.”

“But we don’t know which,” I said.

“There’s always that,” Zach agreed. “Where does that leave us?”

“Two steps forward, and one back.” I started thinking about what we’d learned, and how we could use it to our advantage. If the police were focusing on Mindi and Cary, we couldn’t do anything about that. It wouldn’t bother me one bit if they solved the case before we did. We weren’t in a race, unless I considered it a competition to free me from suspicion.

But what if they were wrong?

Zach and I could have the best chance of learning what had really happened to Derrick Duncan.

I took my husband’s hand. “It’s time we stirred the pot a little, don’t you think?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“We need to let them know we found the planner, and that we’ve got a copy of it.”

Zach looked at me oddly. “What good is that going to do?”

“Stay with me,” I said. “What if we claim there was something tucked away in it, an entry that pertains to the day he was murdered?”

“So, we use ourselves as bait,” Zach said.

“Exactly.” I frowned, and then added, “I’m not comfortable using Jenny’s place, though. She’s been through enough lately.”

Zach grinned at me. “We can always get a room here ourselves. As a matter of fact, why keep all of the fun to Brady and Kelsey? I think we should tell Cary and Mindi the same thing. That way we’re covering all of our remaining suspects.”

“Somehow I don’t think Shawn Murphy is going to approve,” I said.

“He’ll get over it pretty quickly if we hand him the killer. How should we do this?”

I headed back toward the dining room. “I think a breathless announcement is the best, don’t you?”

He grabbed my arm before I could make it two steps to the door. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“What’s that?”

He grinned. “We need a pair of rooms to lure the killer to first.”

“Why two?”

“If we get them with a connecting door, we can leave it unlocked and see who takes the bait.”

“That’s brilliant,” I said.

“I’m just trying to figure out how to keep us safe.”

“You don’t have to apologize for that. I appreciate it,” I said with a smile. “Sorry. Sometimes I get carried away when I’m excited.”

“Don’t apologize. That’s one of the things I love best about you. Let’s get the rooms, and then I’ll go upstairs and set things up. After that, I’ll call Cary Duncan.”