The Ghost and the Mystery Writer (27 page)

Stomping her cane on the floor, she said, “Listen to me, young lady, I don't drive anymore, and I had to talk a neighbor into bringing me down here. If my neighbor went to all the trouble to bring me here, then you tell Edward he better see me! This is important!”

“I understand, ma'am, but the chief just got in about a half hour ago, because he was called out late last night and—”

“Yes, yes, I know about all that. That, young lady, is why I'm here. You go tell your boss Marie Nichols is here, and she knows why Pete Rogers killed Jolene Carmichael and why he tried to kill Jolene's daughter, Melony.”

When the receptionist just stared blankly at Marie, the elderly woman let out a frustrated sigh and used her cane to point to the door leading to the inner offices. “Go. Now. Tell him. Or do you want a killer to be set free?”

M
acDonald tried
to avoid drinking coffee after noon, but considering his recent lack of sleep, he decided caffeine was necessary. Sipping his coffee, he sat behind his desk and studied Marie Nichols, who had just finished telling him her theory regarding Jolene's death.

“So you really think that's why Pete killed Jolene?”

“It's the only thing that makes sense. And you certainly don't believe that cockamamie story about Pete trying to protect Melony.”

MacDonald leaned back in his chair. “You seem to know a lot about what's been going on.”

Marie shrugged. “I spoke to Adam this morning when he was at the hospital. He told me about that partially burned page from her mother's day planner he and Melony found, and how Melony remembered late last night about seeing Pete burning pages from a book the night before.”

“Yes, Melony told me that too when I stopped at the hospital before coming back in today. Apparently, that's why she impulsively walked down to Rogers's place in the middle of the night, to check out his fire pit.”

Marie nodded. “And she found scraps of unburnt paper similar to the page she found.”

“Yes, she told me. However, someone soaked the fire pit with water late last night, and if there's any paper left, it's mush.”

With a disgusted grunt, Marie said, “And we know who that was.”

“Unfortunately, there's no tangible evidence to back up your theory.”

Using her cane, Marie awkwardly got to her feet. “Then I'll leave it to you to be creative, Edward. I have faith in you.” Punctuating her point, she rapped her cane against the floor.

P
ete Rogers sat
with his attorney in the interrogation room when Chief MacDonald entered.

“I was just explaining to my client how he should be out on bail in time to be home for dinner,” the attorney boasted.

“Then I'll just have to arrest him again when we file murder charges,” MacDonald said calmly when he took a seat at the table.

Pete bolted up straighter in his chair. “Murder charges?”

“Has Ms. Jacobs taken a turn for the worse?” the attorney asked.

“I was speaking of Ms. Jacobs's mother, Jolene Carmichael.”

“Ridiculous,” Pete stammered, ignoring his attorney, who was now trying to hush him. “Steve Klein murdered Jolene. I'm a witness. I'm prepared to testify. You should be out arresting him and not harassing me!”

MacDonald looked Pete in the eyes. “We know about the fake will—the one Melony's father prepared for you after your wife died. The one leaving you everything. But your wife didn't leave you her estate, did she? She left it to her sister. And Jolene knew that. She was desperate for money, and she expected you to pay up—again. Didn't she?”

The attorney grabbed his client's wrist. “Don't say anything.”

Settling back in his chair, MacDonald smiled lazily and said, “Oh, your client doesn't need to say a thing.” He turned to face the attorney. “Remember how you told Brian it's not uncommon for someone to forget what happened right before suffering a traumatic injury such as Ms. Jacob's recent blow to the head? Well, sometimes a traumatic injury can jog a memory, like suppressed memories of a troubled teen, who discovered, when working in her father's law practice, that the man she idolized was not quite as shiny as she imagined.”

The attorney frowned and looked from Pete back to MacDonald. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“No. But your client does.” MacDonald smiled.

Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, Pete swallowed nervously. “What do you want?”

“I've got a pretty good death penalty case here. Your motive for killing Jolene, the fact you were at the crime scene. The fact her daughter, after finding pieces of her mother's missing day planner in your fire pit, ended up in your trunk. But if we make a deal, I can take the death penalty off the table.”

“Even if you manage to convince a jury and I get the death penalty, at my age, I'd probably die of natural causes before they ever stick the needle in me,” Pete snapped. “I'd rather take my chances with a jury.”

MacDonald shrugged. “Maybe, but the last two executions in our state took place three and four years after sentencing. Are you saying you're in poor health and won't make it another five years anyway?”

I
f the hospital
had rules limiting the number of visitors, MacDonald suspected Melony might have exceeded her quota, considering the crowd he found bunched in her hospital room. Yet it didn't prevent him from entering. After all, he had flowers to deliver.

Melony's blue eyes lit up when she saw him standing in the doorway, a vase of spring flowers in his hands. “Aww, Eddy! Those are beautiful.”

MacDonald smiled and glanced around. By the number of flower arrangements sitting on the various shelves and counters, he wondered if he should have instead brought candy. Adam stood by Melony's bedside while Danielle and Lily sat in the room's only two chairs. Chris stood behind Danielle while Ian stood next to Lily.

“I understand they're keeping you overnight for observation,” MacDonald said as he found a free spot on the sink counter to set the vase before walking over to Melony and kissing her forehead.

“I just hope the food is good here,” Melony joked.

“So we hear Pete confessed?” Chris asked.

MacDonald nodded. “Thanks to Adam's grandmother. Her hunch proved spot on.”

“I guess she always wondered if something funny had gone on back then,” Danielle said.

“You can't pull anything over on Grandma.” Adam chuckled.

Melony looked up to MacDonald. “They told me what you said to Pete. But I really had no idea about his wife's will. What made you tell him I did?”

MacDonald shrugged. “To be fair—I just implied it. But I remembered Cindy once telling me the issues you had with your parents started when you began questioning your father's professional integrity.”

“I'll have to admit, I'm surprised Pete copped to a plea,” Ian said.

Lily glanced up at Ian. “Why?”

“If the only reason he copped a plea was to get the death penalty off the table, why not take his chances and go for a trial? Considering his age, he'd probably outlive the death chamber, and I'm surprised his attorney wouldn't question if you really had the evidence you claimed,” Ian explained.

“I reminded him the last two executions were carried off less than five years after sentencing.”

“True, but if I remember correctly, didn't they waive their right to appeal?” Ian asked.

“Yes. Which Rogers's attorney pointed out. But I asked Pete if he wanted to spend the rest of his life dodging a needle. That's a special kind of hell. Did he really want to do that?”

Sitting up in bed, Melony leaned back against the mattress's elevated end. “Well, even if I was clueless about what happened with his wife's estate, I imagine once you claimed the will was forged, Pete probably started wondering what damning information you'd find in the files that were put into storage after Clarence went to prison. They're still there, you know. With Mother gone, I have access to them.”

“So it's possible, even if the chief hadn't bluffed, he could've found the evidence he needed in those files to prove Pete had a motive to kill your mother?” Lily asked.

“Very possible. And considering I'm now the only one standing between those files and a search warrant, I don't imagine Pete will expect me to do much to keep them from the police.” Melony smiled.

Adam reached out and patted Melony's shoulder. “Then he shouldn't have knocked you over the head.”

C
hief MacDonald was just getting
into his police car in the hospital parking lot when he heard someone calling his name. It was Danielle. She hurried in his direction.

“Where's Chris?” he asked, now sitting in his car, its door open.

“We came in separate cars. He went home to get some sleep. I guess Joe hauling him down to the police station sort of messed up his night.”

MacDonald chuckled. “Yeah. I'm still not sure how to explain why I believed Chris's claim. Or how Chris knew in the first place.”

Leaning back against the inside of the open car door, Danielle crossed her arms over her chest and smiled down at him. “Sometimes there is no rational explanation.”

“You've taught me that.”

“But I do have a question for you. I didn't want to ask back there because I know you told me to keep it to myself.”

“What?” he asked.

“In Pete's letter, how did he know about Jolene blackmailing Steve over his affair with Carla? Or even about the loan she was trying to get? Had she put something in the day planner?”

MacDonald chuckled. “It's really that day planner that brought Pete down. If he never took it, he might have gotten away with murder. He was afraid Jolene left some incriminating evidence behind that would implicate him. So after he killed her, he went through her car and then her house. The only thing he found at her house was the day planner, which he took with him so he could go through it.”

“So she did write about blackmailing Steve in the day planner?” Danielle asked.

“No. In fact, according to Pete, there was nothing in there about Steve or Pete, at least nothing that would make someone assume she was blackmailing anyone.”

“Then how did he know about Steve?”

“Apparently, when Carla and Steve first hooked up, it was in one of their cars in the Pier Café parking lot. Pete was fishing that night and saw them when he went back to his car to get something. They, well…were getting busy.”

Danielle wrinkled her nose. “Eww…gross.”

“Pete knew Jolene was trying to get a loan from Steve and had been turned down. He didn't know she knew about Steve's affair or if she was blackmailing him.”

“That creep. He was just throwing Steve under the bus—not that Steve doesn't belong under a bus.”

“Exactly. He figured it wouldn't take long for us to verify Steve was having an affair with Carla and that Steve was on the pier that night. He was supplying us with a motive.”

Danielle shook her head. “I wonder what will happen to Pete's money. Is there some statute of limitations on that? Could his estate go back to his sister-in-law, assuming she's still alive?”

“I really don't know. Plus, there may not be anything in Renton's old files to prove anything. Frankly, I'd be surprised if there was.”

Danielle stepped away from the car door so MacDonald could shut it. After he did, he rolled his window down and looked up at Danielle. “By the way, Evan enjoyed his time at Marlow House last night.”

Danielle grinned. “Yeah, Walt told me about it. Says you have a great kid there.”

“Tell Walt thanks for being so nice to Evan. It means a lot to me. This
gift
of his, well, I'm not really sure how to proceed. They don't actually address this type of issue in any of the parenting books I've come across.”