NAILED (27 page)

I needed to talk to Shirley. Or, more importantly, I needed Shirley’s expertise in searching the Internet. I took out my phone and called her cell. She was going to be out for a couple of hours, but I told her what I had in mind and she said to come by later in the afternoon.

What I should have done next was head back to my office, but instead I hopped on the turnpike and headed to Stamford. As long as I was going to meet Shirley in Westport later on, I thought I’d head to the mall in Stamford. A couple more spins in the washing machine and my bras were going to disintegrate. I enjoy shopping on occasion, but buying bras made me cringe. Trying on clothes is something I don’t enjoy. Trying on bras is pure torture.

Once in the mall I headed straight for the lingerie department of one of the larger stores. Way back when, bras came in one color: white. White cotton in a few styles. Today, they were a fashion statement in their own right. I have a thing for animal prints so I picked out a few of those and some others in various colors, and took them into the dressing room. The nice thing about playing hooky and shopping during the week was that the store was relatively quiet, and I had the dressing rooms all to myself.

I tried on eight bras and decided that three were winners. I picked up some new panties to match while I was at it, and then headed over to the hosiery department for some ankle socks. I paid for my purchases, quite pleased that it didn’t take me that long, and headed to a small restaurant in the mall where I could get a salad.

I was all sandwiched out. An arugula salad and a cup of barley soup sounded like a nice change. The waitress brought over a basket of several kinds of breads with a large cup of butter and placed it along with an iced tea on the table. When she left, I took a sip of the tea and watched people walking by, purchases firmly in hand.

I couldn’t wait to see whether Shirley managed to find anything out. She seemed to think I was on to something when we talked, and I had to do the mental head slap thing because why didn’t I see it all along? I was just surprised the police hadn’t figured it out, but then I had a bit more information than they did. There was always the chance that I was wrong, but I didn’t think so. It was the only thing that made sense for both crimes.

The waitress set my order in front of me and refilled my glass with more tea. I ate slowly, savoring the excellent soup, and then moved on to the salad, partaking of a few pieces of bread slathered in butter along the way.

I looked at my watch. I still had some time before I had to meet Shirley, so I lingered at my table alternating between people-watching and reading a few more chapters on my Kindle. But my mind kept wandering. Would Shirley be able to find what we needed? And if not, how was I going to prove it? If need be, I would tell my theory to John and let the police run with it.

The good thing about having solved the crime—at least in my head—was that my brother-in-law was off the hook, at least where murder was concerned. I still needed to find out what was up with him, and after I sorted out Victor’s murder, I planned on confronting Michael once and for all.

I finished off my drink and put my Kindle away. I paid the waitress, gathered up my things and headed out to my car. It was time to finish this thing off and get back to my life.

I got to Shirley’s only to find that she hadn’t arrived home yet. I sat in my car looking at the other houses on the street. It was a lovely neighborhood. If Shirley went ahead with the sun room it would further increase the value of her home, which already had to be up there, considering the surroundings. Of course, having Kate Cavanaugh do the design was contingent upon what Shirley and I would turn up this afternoon. And contingent on what I would find when I questioned my brother-in-law, because if it turned out that he and Kate had been having an affair, the lovely Ms. Cavanaugh was going to have a few broken bones to mend.

I heard a car and looked in my rearview mirror just as Shirley pulled into her driveway. I got out and followed her into the house.

“Sorry I’m late. Had to give a client the bad news that his wife is having an affair with his best friend. He knew she was doing it with someone, but this came as a big shock. Sometimes I hate my job. I’d rather help you catch killers, but unfortunately you don’t pay very much.”

“I seem to be getting quite a reputation. Maybe I can add
finding killer
to the menu of things my firm offers.”

“That would be helpful. Okay, so let me get us some tea, because this is going to take some time.”

Shirley made two cups of tea and we took them into her office. I took a seat opposite her and watched as she started typing.

“Alex, I can’t believe I totally skimmed over this before. It was pretty much sitting in front of us the entire time.”

“That’s if I’m right. We don’t know that yet.”

“What was it that made you think of it?”

I told Shirley how I came to my latest theory and she nodded.

“Hey, it’s as good a scenario as we’ve had so far. Let’s see what we can find.” Shirley squinted at the screen. “I think I need to get glasses. I’ve been putting it off, but they come in such nice styles. Maybe I’ll get a couple of pairs and change them up depending on my mood. Okay, here we go.”

“You found something already?” I said, as I jumped up and walked around the desk.

Shirley threw up her hands. “Nope. Never mind. Sorry.”

I sat back down and picked up my cup. “If I’m right, then Gary Hachmeister is in danger. I’ll have to let him know.”

“If you’re right, he’s been in danger all along. He almost bought the farm Saturday night. It’s just a matter of time. You better call John, too.”

Shirley continued her search. She stopped typing and I could see her eyes going back and forth across the screen while she read something.

“What is it?” I asked.

She looked up at me. “It’s them, but the name is wrong.”

I got up and walked around the desk again, and read through the small article.

“Well, darn. I was so sure.”

“Hey, don’t give up. People change their names. Maybe there was an adoption.”

I sat back down and finished my tea. I went back to the kitchen for a refill. When I got back to the office, Shirley was reading something on the computer screen.

“Well?”

“I’m not sure. The two names together are bringing up a lot of hits. I’m looking at Facebook right now to see if any of the pictures match. Hundreds of people with that name, and so far nothing.”

I shook my head. “This is pointless. If I’m right, then the name has been changed and how are we going to find a connection?”

I pulled out my iPad and connected to Shirley’s Wi-Fi service. Two people searching were better than one. I plugged the names of the people Shirley had found into Google and started to look through all the links that came up while Shirley continued with her face recognition process. After a good half hour I wasn’t getting anywhere and decided to try something different. I went back to the search engine and this time typed in just one of the names. Again, a lot of stuff came up. How did anyone ever get anything done sorting through all the links? And where did all the stuff on the Internet come from in the first place? A curse and a blessing, I thought. I had a real love/hate relationship with the World Wide Web.

I took a tea break and then got back to it, and this time something caught my eye. It was an article for one of the town’s local newspapers about a woman starting her own business and making her dream come true. I clicked on the link and waited for the story to load. I read the headline and introduction, and then used my finger to scroll down further where there was a picture. I stared at it for a few moments. I shut my eyes and then opened them and looked again.

“Bingo,” I said softly.

Shirley looked up, and when she saw my smile she came around the desk.

“Take a look at this,” I said. “Look like anybody we know?”

“Holy cow!”

“You need to call John right now.” Shirley’s voice was full of concern.

I used Shirley’s phone to call my husband. It went straight to voice mail, but I left a rather detailed message and then hung up.

“We did it,” I said.

“No, you did it. Great job. Now let’s hope the police can make an arrest before Gary Hachmeister gets attacked again. Or worse.”

I didn’t want to think about that, so instead I asked Shirley what she thought about my confronting Michael.

“You might as well. This has gone on long enough. You can even tell him that someone saw him with Kate Cavanaugh. Tell him you’re concerned about him and your sister. See what he says. If nothing else it will get him thinking and maybe he’ll finally realize that whatever he’s up to, innocent or not, is upsetting Sam.”

“Maybe I’ll stop by his office on my way home. I might be able to catch him alone. Thanks for all your help with this.”

“I hope it’s not going to take another murder for all of us to get together,” Shirley said.

“It’s not. Plan on coming to my house on Saturday for a barbecue. I’ll invite the entire family. Meme can give you the thumbs-up on Tom.”

“What about Sam and Michael?”

“Don’t worry about them. By Saturday everything will be back to normal.”

I said good-bye and headed for home. It was after six and there was a good chance Michael would still be at the office. I was on the turnpike coming up on Fairfield. I checked the lane next to me and moved over to the right. I made a snap decision and exited. With any luck, John had already listened to my message and was at this very moment warning Gary Hachmeister that his life was in danger. Maybe the police would even put him in protective custody.

A few minutes later I pulled into the parking lot for
Connecticut Custom Homes
. There were only a handful of cars in the lot and none of them looked like my husband’s. I parked my car close to the front entrance and walked up to the door and gave it a pull. It was locked. Darn. Suzette had said that the automatic doors locked at six. Through the glass I saw someone coming. I quickly thought of what I was going to tell them to get them to let me in, when the woman came through and held the door open for me.

“Have a nice evening,” she called out.

“You, too.”

It was that easy. Maybe the killer didn’t need Victor’s key card to get in after all, but after seeing the picture on my iPad I knew I was right.

I made my way up the staircase and down the hall. The doors to
Connecticut Custom Homes
were closed, so I banged a couple of times and called out Gary’s name. A minute later I heard footsteps coming.

“Hang on a minute,” Gary said from the other side of the door.

He finally unlocked it and I stepped in.

“Oh, good. I’m glad I caught you.”

“I’m on the phone. Come on back.”

I followed Gary to his office and took a seat while he concluded his call, which sounded like business.

“We’re doing a final walk-through tomorrow. I think the couple is going to be thrilled. So, what brings you here at this time of the evening?”

“I’m here to warn you. I figured out who the killer is and you’re in danger. You and Victor were both meant to die. The attack on you the other night was the killer coming after you.”

“Alex, you seem like a nice person. Really. But isn’t it time for you to stop playing detective and let the police handle it? The attack on me was just some crazy person, probably looking for drugs because of the doctor’s office.” He gave my breasts a once-over and then sat down. Maybe I should just let him get knocked off after all.

“Gary, listen to me. I’ve contacted the police and I’m surprised they haven’t called you by now.”

“The phone’s been ringing and my cell phone, too, but I was putting the final touches on the paperwork for tomorrow and talking with my client.”

“Check your messages. I’m sure there’ll be one from my husband.”

“Look, I’m touched that you think so highly of me that you stopped by, but my head is throbbing and I was just about to go home.”

“Don’t do anything until you call the police. Please.”

Gary looked at me over his clasped hands and I could tell he was mulling it over.

“Okay, if you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you. The first blow hit you in the back, correct? Not the head.”

“Right. So?”

“That’s because you’re a very tall man and the killer is short. That first blow was meant to bring you to your knees so the killer could finish you off with a couple of whacks to the head. Trust me. Your life is in danger. The killer is coming back for you.”

Gary reached across the desk and picked up his cell phone. He started to scroll through his messages, and I could see his eyes grow full of concern. John must have texted him.

“Put the phone back on the desk and don’t make a move.”

At the sound of a woman’s voice, both Gary and I turned to look at the doorway.

“Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?” Gary asked.

“Hello, Mr. Miller. I’ve been waiting to meet you for a very long time.”

Gary got to his feet. He was about twice the size of our guest and I had no doubt he could pick her up and toss her through the window with no problem except for one teeny tiny thing.

Elizabeth Applegate held a gun in her small hand.

Elizabeth came into the room and moved closer to the desk. She waved the gun.

“Both of you, go sit on the sofa and don’t try anything funny.”

“Who the hell are you?” Gary shouted. “You can’t just come in here with a gun and tell me what to do. I demand that you get the hell out of my office or I’ll call the police. As a matter of fact, that sounds like a good idea.” Gary reached for his phone but he wasn’t quick enough. Elizabeth grabbed it and threw it across the room.