Death Vetoes The Chairman (Lizzie Crenshaw Mysteries Book 7) (11 page)

Chapter 16

Since Gladys had been banned from the café, I figured it was a safe place to eat. So, when we got back to town around one, we went straight there. “There’s my favorite guy!” Maddie exclaimed as we walked in. She gave Jake a big hug. “A little late for the two of you to come in for lunch, ain’t it?”

“We had a meeting in Dallas this morning,” I explained.

“Well, I don’t have any of today’s special left,” she said. “The meatloaf was a big hit today. This place was packed for almost two hours. We’ve been packed around mealtimes ever since I banned Gladys from here. If I had known what kind of impact that would have on business, I would have done it years ago.”

“She won’t stay away forever, you know,” I said.

“Yeah, I know. But for now, I’m going to enjoy it. Go sit down, and I’ll bring you the usual.” She gave Jake another hug before hurrying back into the kitchen.

I tossed my bag into the booth and took off my jacket. “What do you think about what Barbara said?” I said to Jake as I sat down. “Do you think his dad is still in town?”

Jake shook his head. “Probably not. I wonder what mess he wanted Ethan to take care of so urgently, though.”

“Probably me.”

“I get the feeling it’s something bigger,” he said. “I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but dealing with TROs and harassment lawsuits is child’s play for him after all these years. I think it’s something bigger.”

“You mean something like getting one of his play toys pregnant?”

“Who’s pregnant?” Maddie said as she put our burgers and fries down in front of us.

“No one, Maddie,” I said. “We’re wondering who might have had a reason to kill Ethan Winthrop, that’s all.”

“I can’t imagine a pregnant woman wanting to kill him. Why kill the golden goose when you can milk it for as much money as possible?” she pointed out before she walked away. She said something to Owen, who had just walked in.

He made his way over to our table, grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down at the head of our table. “I thought I told you to keep a low profile, Mathias,” he grumbled. “Whoever is trying to set you up might be watching you. We’ve got to keep up appearances.”

“I kept a low profile all morning, Owen. We’ve been in Dallas for the last couple of hours.”

“Doing what?”

Jake and I looked at each other before I answered. “Talking to Ethan’s last girlfriend.”

“Oh, really?” Owen replied. “How did you manage to get a hold of her? I’ve been trying for two days to talk to her.”

“We knocked on the door,” Jake told him.

“And she was home?”

“We got the impression that she’s not an early riser,” I said.

“Does she have an alibi for the night of his murder?”

“She said she was at dinner with the governor,” Jake said.

“No, that was last night. Three nights ago, they had dinner with his father.”

“But what about the night of the murder?” Owen said again.

“We didn’t ask,” I sheepishly admitted.

“Some reporter you are,” he scoffed.

Opening my bag, I rummaged around and found my notepad. “I’ve got her phone number.”

Jake pulled out his phone and dialed the number. “Hello, Barbara? This is Jake Mathias. Right, the cute guy who was at your apartment this morning. I was wond…I’m fine, thank you for asking. I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the restaurant you were at two nights ago. Really? My mistake. I apologize, I thought you said you had gone to a new restaurant for dinner two nights ago. Oh, I see. Well, I hope your friend is doing better now. That’s good to hear. Right…I’ll have to get back to you about that. I don’t have my calendar in front of me at the moment. Yes, I’ve got your number. I’ll give you a call when I have some free time. Nice talking to you, too. ‘Bye.” He hung up. “Good grief, that woman can talk!”

“Sounds like she thinks you might be a good candidate for her next sugar daddy,” I teased him.

“God, no,” Jake shuddered. “That would qualify as one of my worst nightmares ever.”

“So, where was she the night Ethan died?” Owen said.

“According to her, she was at urgent care with a friend because she had an ingrown toenail. It was very tragic, because it ruined her friend’s pedicure.”

“How awful!” I said in mock horror. “Did her poor friend survive this horrific injury?”

“An ingrown toenail?” Owen scoffed. “Buy some damn toenail clippers!”

“What? And ruin a perfectly good manicure?” I haughtily replied. I could actually see Barbara and her friend reacting that way. The stupidity of some people…

“Very funny,” Jake laughed. “She says she was with her friend for about three hours that night while she received treatment, then they stopped for ice cream before going back to Barbara’s place for an all-night gab fest.”

“Somehow, I’m pretty sure you’re paraphrasing there,” I said.

“She might have mentioned chick flicks.”

“That is horrible,” I gasped. “Give me a good war movie or western any day of the week.”

“I’m with you,” Jake replied.

“If you two are done bonding now,” Owen interrupted, “can we get back to my case?”

“Frankly, I’m surprised you aren’t having a hissy fit because we talked to one of your potential suspects,” I said.

“As much as it pains me to admit this, sometimes you can get people to talk to you that normally wouldn’t talk to me. So I’m willing to overlook a few lapses of protocol for now. But if I tell you to butt out, you butt out. Don’t step over the line.”

“Me? Never.”

“Neither one of you are allowed to talk to anyone about this. It could jeopardize this whole case,” he groused.

“T.J. obviously being the exception to this rule,” I replied.

“Obviously.”

“I was under the impression that Jake has an airtight alibi,” I replied. “So how is he jeopardizing the case? And how am I doing anything wrong? I was at work all day. There’s no way I could…”

“You’re a victim, Lizzie,” Owen cut me off.

“I wish people would stop calling me that!”

Owen and Jake looked at each other for a minute, then Jake reached across and placed his hand on top of mine. “But he’s right, Lizzie. I know you don’t want to think of yourself that way, but given the way you’ve been acting lately…”

“And just how have I been acting?” I snapped, jerking my hand away.

“Snapping at people when they say something, for starters,” he replied. “Refusing to step foot into your office, and spending most of your time hiding out at home.”

“I’ve done work at the newspaper,” I retorted.

“One day,” Jake pointed out. “One day, and that’s only because I couldn’t go in myself. At some point, you’re going to need to talk to someone about this. We just want to help you, if you’ll let us.”

“I’m not…I don’t…can we change the subject, please?” There was no way I was going to have this conversation in the middle of a public place. “You’ve got a leak in your department,” I said, turning my attention back to Owen. “Some people already know about the unofficial autopsy results.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Gladys was in here yesterday, running her mouth about how Ethan died, and how many gunshot wounds he had.”

“Did she happen to mention who told her?”

“Maybellene.”

Owen rolled his eyes. “Figures. That woman can’t keep her mouth shut to save her life. That explains how some of the news outlets knew about the cause of death. Well, she’s gone. I can’t have a blabbermouth in the station.”

“Can’t you reassign her?” I said, regretting my decision to rat her out.

“To where? No,” he shook his head, “she’s going to have to go.”

“Does that mean what she told Gladys was right?” Jake said.

“What did she say?”

“That Ethan had been shot several times, in the front, back and sides.”

“Eight times, to be exact.”

“I don’t understand how one person could have inflicted all those wounds, Owen,” I said.

“This is between us,” he said, leaning forward. He snagged a fry from Jake’s plate. “Doc Endicott thinks more than one person is involved because two different guns were used.”

“You’re joking,” Jake said. He was wearing the same look on his face that I was: one of total disbelief. “I mean, you realize what you’re saying, don’t you?”

“That more than one person was involved in his death? Yeah, I realize that, Jake. I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were.” He stopped talking while Maddie slid a plate with a burger and fries in front of him, along with a glass of sweet tea.

After she left, Owen said, “This whole thing is turning into a royal pain in my butt.”

“Getting some pressure to solve this in a hurry?” I said.

Picking up his burger, he took a bite and nodded. “From two different states, here and Virginia. Someone is calling in some favors on this one.”

“I imagine the pressure from Virginia is coming from his father,” Jake said.

“I got a call from our governor’s office, informing me that the case would be taken away from me and given to the Texas Rangers if I don’t solve this in the next couple of days. This whole thing is giving me a bad case of heartburn.”

“What does T.J. say?” I asked him.

“I haven’t talked to him since this morning. He’s gone to the FBI office in Dallas to talk to Hopkins, and do a little digging around in Winthrop’s life.”

“Owen, do you really think that more than one person killed him?” Jake said.

He took another bite of his burger and chewed it before replying. “I’m not sure, to tell you the truth.”

“What does your gut say?” I said.

Scratching his chin, he said, “We’re looking at two possible scenarios here. One: he was killed by one person, who used two different guns to make it look like more than one person; or two: we’re looking at several people who deliberately used different guns to confuse us and make it harder to solve his murder.”

“And at this point, you have absolutely no idea which scenario is the right one.”

“Exactly.”

“Hey, Lizzie, we’ve got to get going,” Jake said suddenly, making a big show of checking the time on his phone. “We’re going to be late for that big staff meeting at the paper if we don’t hurry.”

“What?” I said, totally confused. He gave me a look and jerked his head at the door. “I totally forgot about that. Dang, I’m sorry, Owen. I wish we could stay and talk to you more about this. Let me know if there’s anything we can do to help you.”

Owen stood up and moved the chair out of our way so we could get out of the booth. “Yeah, you’ll be the first ones I call,” he said sarcastically.

Jake left some money on the table to cover all three meals, and hustled me out. “Why are you in such a hurry for?” I said.

“Because we’re going to go see Trixie.”

“What for?”

“You’re going to talk to her while I make some phone calls.”

“Okay,” I replied, still totally confused.

He held the door of the Porsche open for me. “Just trust me, okay? I need to check on a couple of things before we make our next move.”

Since Brookdale was a small town, it didn’t take long to get to the Gentlemen’s Club. Trixie’s car was sitting by the back entrance, and Jake parked next to it. “Go inside and see Trixie. I’ll be in as soon as I finish making my calls,” he said as he pulled his phone out of his jacket.

“Whatever,” I muttered as I got out of the car.

There were four cars in the parking lot, which probably belonged to the poker guys. They’re a group of six men who came to the club once a week, and spent several hours in one of the side rooms playing poker and smoking cigars. The group actually has more than six members, but only six were allowed to be there at one time.

When I walked in, I waited a minute for my eyes to adjust to the softer lighting before walking further into the club. “Good to see you, Lizzie,” a female voice called out from behind the bar. As I got closer, I noticed it was Abby Sinclair. “Want a Dr Pepper?” she asked.

“Um, sure, thanks. What are you doing here? I thought you were working for Owen.”

“I still am,” she replied. “I’m just helping out Trixie for a little while. She’s lost a couple of bartenders, and I have some experience doing this, so here I am. Besides, the extra cash will be nice, especially with the holidays coming up.” She placed a royal blue cocktail napkin in front of me and placed a glass on the napkin. “Are you here to see Trixie?”

I nodded. “Is she busy?”

“She’s on the phone chewing out the contractor. He was supposed to be here this morning to finish work on the bathrooms, but he didn’t show up. Go on back.”

Picking up my glass and napkin, I walked to the end of the bar, turned right, and went through the open door. I could hear her shouting all the way down the hall, and when I stopped in the doorway of her office, she was waving one hand in the air. “I don’t care about your excuses, Ken. You’re are contractually obligated to finish this job, and you’re going to do it. Now you’d better be here first thing in the morning to finish those bathrooms, or I’m going to court to file a lawsuit. By the time I’m done with you, I will own your business, your house AND your car.” She paused and listened for a minute. “That sounds great, Ken. I will see you at 8 a.m. Have a nice day.” She slammed the receiver down on its base, and ran her fingers through her hair. Finally, she noticed me standing in the doorway. “Hey, girl!” she said, coming around her desk to give me a hug. “How long have you been standing there?”