Football is Murder (Bee's Bakehouse Cozy Mysteries Book 4) (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries) (9 page)

Chief Daly was shaking his head. “You’re pulled over in the middle of the night with five hundred thousand in cash in the trunk. Am I missing something? Is that normal where you come from?”

Chad shrugged and started to say something before his attorney cleared his throat and spoke over him.

“My client is a wealthy man, Chief Daly. They have different… habits to the rest of us.”

Chief Daly tilted his head to one side. “What, they think they can get away with murder?”

Chad’s eyes flew open. “No. What’s he saying, Lewis?”

Lewis looked unperturbed. “You’re putting words in his mouth, Chief. Think about it—if you had millions of dollars, would it seem strange to have a small fraction of that in cash?”

“At two in the morning?”

“These men work hard and play hard. What can I say?” the attorney said, shrugging.

Chief Daly cleared his throat. “How about you start by explaining what your client was doing driving in the middle of the night with half a million dollars in cash in the trunk? Where was he headed?”

“What’s this about, Chief Daly?” Lewis said, spreading his hands on the table.

Jessie focused on Chad. It seemed to her like he was in some kind of trance, just staring at the table as if he couldn’t tear his gaze away.

What is going on with him?
she wondered.
Why not come up with some kind of excuse to take the heat off?
She shook her head. Was he so cold that he didn’t care about any of this; didn’t think they could possibly catch him? She clenched her fists tight, even more determined now to end this thing.

“As I understand it,” Lewis was saying. “And I understand it pretty well considering I’ve been doing this for almost forty years now—it’s not a crime to carry cash. My client was nowhere near an international border. The only way this could be a crime would be if he’d tried to leave the country. Even then, he wouldn’t have broken
United States
law.”

The chief sighed as if all of this was boring to him. “You know as well as I do, Lewis, that we have the right to seize large sums of cash until we can determine their source.”

“No,” Chad hissed.

Lewis placed a hand on his arm. “And I’ve told you, Chief,” he said with equal patience. “My client is a professional football player. Surely that in itself justifies the sum.”

Chief Daly glanced from attorney to client. “Even so. I’ll have to insist on seeing bank records to show where the money came from. Now,” he said cheerfully. “On to your client’s relationship with Johnny Cooper.”

Chad groaned loudly as if he’d been struck. Jessie leaned forward, intrigued by the pained look on the attorney’s face. Up to that point, he had been calm and composed—now he looked like he was about to crack.

“What about him?” Chad snapped.

“Chad,” Lewis said quickly.

“Go on,” Chief Daly said smoothly.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Mr. Denver!”

“You were friends. What changed?”

But this time, Chad’s attorney must have gotten through to him. Because he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

Nobody said another word for a whole five minutes—it was so awkward that Jessie actually timed it. She was beginning to wonder if she should leave when the door of the interview room opened and Officer Kendall appeared.

“Chief. A word?”

Jessie frowned, wondering what was going on. Pete looked more serious than usual, though she knew it could have been a ruse to unnerve the suspect.

A second later, that theory was disproved. Chief Daly looked directly at her, it seemed, and jerked his head toward the door.

* * *

The chief held his finger to his lips when Jessie popped her head out the door. She nodded and followed him and Officer Kendall back out through the lobby and round to the chief’s office. Jessie took a seat and turned around to watch as the chief closed the door behind them.

“What is it, Pete?”

They have such a strong connection from working together all these years,
Jessie thought, watching the wordless look that passed between the two officers. Pete hadn’t had to do more than pop his head around the door in order for the chief to halt the interview and pull them out. She wondered what it was—Chad hadn’t exactly revealed much in his interview. Nothing that Jessie had noticed, at least.

Pete sat down beside Jessie. She noticed for the first time that he was carrying a folder. Without saying a word, he slid it across the desk. Chief Daly flipped it open. It looked like there was a single sheet of paper inside.

Jessie leaned forward, but she couldn’t see what was written on it. The chief’s eyes skimmed over the page. After a few moments, he looked up at them both.

“This changes things.” He passed the file over to Jessie.

She took it and looked through it. At first it didn’t make much sense to her—she was more comfortable with documents and legal terms than she was with figures. Her eyes moved across the page, connecting the dots.

Chad’s name was printed in the top left corner. It looked like a list of eyewateringly high numbers. Her first conclusion was that this guy had a lot of money at his disposal. Then she saw it. There were two columns, each brimming with five, six and seven figure numbers. Now she realized—the serious numbers featured in the left-hand column. It wasn’t balanced at all.

“The left side is debit,” Pete said. “I just got it from the forensic accounting team minutes ago. The man is teetering on the brink. And that’s putting it mildly. The accounting technician said he’s never seen such a mess.”

Jessie shook her head. “I don’t get it. These guys earn big. Plus he just bought that huge home across the street from me.”

Chief Daly tapped his pen against his lips. “Were they able to provide more detail? Jessie’s right—the money these guys earn, how on earth can he be in this much debt?”

Pete nodded. “Yes, Chief. We spoke on the phone and he emailed me this. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible. He’s preparing a detailed report right now.”

“Good. We’ll need it when we bring it to Rockfield. But judging from this? And the fact that we found him with that much cash that doesn’t show up in his financials? I’m going to go ahead and guess we’ve got our financial motive. Only it’s not the wife like we first thought.”

* * *

As soon as the more detailed report came through from the accountants, everything began to unravel for Chad. The pages and pages of detailed statements showed how his paychecks arrived and then flowed straight out again. His home had been purchased with a mortgage, on which the first payments were due. And there was still no sign of the five hundred thousand having come from any of his accounts.

Chief Daly marched back into the interview room and threw the statement on the table.

“Do you know what this is?”

Chad shook his head. “No.” His wild eyes were a stark contrast to his calm voice.

The chief took his seat. “Well, Chad. I’ll tell you. It’s a report into your finances. It tells me not just that that five hundred thousand didn’t come from any of your own accounts—”

“It’s not illegal to receive a payment from somebody,” Chad cut in.

Beside him, the attorney just shook his head.

“No,” Chief Daly said calmly. “No, it’s not. But it’s my duty to find out where the money came from. Otherwise it can be seized by the government.”

The chief watched him expectantly but Chad didn’t react.

“You want to know what I think?” the chief said. “I think you banked on nobody pointing the finger at you. You argued with Johnny. Is that what it was about? Your out of control spending?”

Chad shook his head before catching the warning glance from his attorney and falling silent again.

“I’m close. Aren’t I? He didn’t approve. Maybe he threatened to go to the Ravens management.”

Silence.

Chief Daly tapped his chin. “You knew him better than anybody else in the world. Let me guess. You knew he had some cash stashed away. Five hundred thousand. Maybe not enough to pay off your debts, but enough to stave off the vultures for a while.”

Chad’s eyes were wide and feral. Jessie shook her head. She couldn’t believe it; couldn’t believe that this monster had been living across the street from her.

“You were out of control. You killed your best friend of nearly twenty years. And for what? A fraction of your yearly salary? Do you know how screwed up that is?”

Lewis held up his hand. “Enough.” He glanced at Chad, who appeared to be in some kind of catatonic state now.

“Okay then, Chad,” Chief Daly sighed. “Tell me how it really happened.”

Chad didn’t respond.

* * *

Jessie shook her head as the chief walked her back to the café.

“I can’t believe it. He didn’t even try to pretend like it wasn’t him.”

Chief Daly shrugged. “It’s out of our hands now. Rockfield will take it from here.”

“I still don’t get why he was brought back here and not Rockfield.”

The chief turned to her and smiled. “Oh, it’s not normal protocol. We had discussed this, me and the Rockfield police chief. We suspected that any arrests over there would draw a lot of media attention. We needed to know we had the right guy.”

Jessie nodded. “That makes sense. You mean there’s a whole media scrum camped in front of Rockfield PD?”

“It’s getting that way.”

“You think they’ll come here?”

He shrugged. “Hopefully they won’t find out. Springdale is too small for a media hoard.”

* * *

There had been no need to worry, Jessie reflected as she walked through the café and into the kitchen. The cruiser from Rockfield had arrived barely an hour after Chad’s interview had ended.

The thing that rattled Jessie was his coldness. He’d just sat there, shaking his head while the chief ran through the allegations against him. She shuddered at the memory as she put her apron over her head.

“Are you okay, honey?” Aunt Bee whispered, wrapping an arm around her.

Jessie nodded. “I’m just glad this is all over.”

Chapter 11

“Mike,” Jessie smiled as her boyfriend entered the café the next morning. “Good to see you.”

His expression mirrored hers. “You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve missed you. That local government conference?” He rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable. Honestly, people talk about these things like they’re junkets; like they’re non-stop parties. Nothing fun about it, now—” He stopped and looked at Melanie, who’d been staring intently at him from her seat at the counter. “Hello.”

“Hello,” Melanie said, holding her hand out.

Jessie threw a warning look in her cousin’s direction. “Mike, this is my cousin Melanie. I’ve told you all about her.”

“And she’s told me
all
about you,” Melanie laughed devilishly.

“Mel, I think Aunt Bee wanted you to help her in the kitchen.”

Melanie shook her head, the picture of innocence. “No, I don’t think so. Least she didn’t say that to me. Maybe you should go check. Give me time to get to know this handsome man of yours.”

Jessie wanted to bury her head in her hands. True, she had often teased Melanie mercilessly in the presence of her own new boyfriends, but she had forgotten how embarrassing it was. Her ex-husband wasn’t exactly the kind of guy you joked around with, so this was Melanie’s first chance at revenge in a very long time.

Mike looked like he was doing his best not to laugh. Jessie could see the struggle in his face.

“Don’t encourage her,” Jessie grumbled, struggling not to laugh herself. She was mortified, but it was nice to see Mike take it so well and not run screaming from the café.

To Jessie’s great relief, the bell rang and Julia came through the door.

“Julia! What can I get for you?”

Julia balked. “What’s gotten into you today? You’re very… chipper.”

Jessie shook her head. “Nothing. Just… it’s a beautiful day.”

Mike stood aside and let Julia come to the counter. He cleared his throat. “I think Melanie here has been trying to make things awkward for us.”

“Ah.” Julia’s face broke into a wide smile. “Now I get it. She is related to these two fiends after all.”

“Don’t let Aunt Bee hear you call her a fiend,” Melanie whispered.

“What do you mean?” Jessie asked, frowning. “I’ve heard you call her much worse. And before breakfast too.”

Melanie shook her head. “That’s different. She expects that from us. In fact, I think she’d be puzzled if I started being nice to her all of a sudden.”

Jessie snorted with laughter. “The day you’re nice to anybody is the day I’ll need to send you for a psych evaluation.”

The door opened again and Jessie looked up to see a little group of tourists enter and look around uncertainly.

“Why don’t you all go grab a table,” she whispered to her friends. “I’ll serve these customers and come join you guys for coffee.”

* * *

Jessie looked around the table and smiled. Life in Springdale just kept on getting better and better. Mike was a man’s man, but she was seeing more of his sensitive side every day. He had put a stop to her cousin’s mischief and made her feel comfortable in a way that no other guy ever had.

Directly across the table, Julia was flicking through the Springdale Chronicle.

“Anything interesting in the news?”

Julia shrugged. “The usual. Missing kittens. Scathing reports about the new development out by Clarice’s place.”

Mike reached over and flipped the paper closed. He shook his head. “Murder doesn’t interest you?”

Julia frowned and looked where he was pointing. When she saw the headline on the front page, she creased up with laughter. “Oh my goodness. It was open on the table when I started reading. I never look at the front page—it’s usually full of Ken’s latest pet hates.”

Jessie smiled.

“Did you have a hand in this?” Julia asked, staring at her.

Jessie shrugged. “A little, I guess.” Julia was her closest friend in the town, but she didn’t know how much she should reveal. A look of understanding passed between her and Mike. She didn’t need to worry about what she should and shouldn’t tell him—as the mayor, he would have been briefed by the chief long before Jessie herself heard anything.