Murder To Die For, page 8
“Yet your grades were above average, while your grades in business administration were only so-so.”
She passed a trembling hand over her brow. “Look, I was going through a bad patch in my life, okay? You have no idea how stressful the pre-med program is. I got through the first year, but I didn’t think I could make it through the second. I couldn’t let the money my parents worked so hard to earn so I could attend college go to waste, so I decided to change majors and pursue something I thought I could handle.”
“What was going on in your life?”
“It’s none of your business.” She abruptly stood up. “I didn’t like coming here to tell you about Penelope and Keith, but I thought you should know. No one deserves to die the way Keith did, and Shray and I will do anything and everything we can to help you find the killer. Even if it turns out to be Penelope.” Turning on her heel, she left the interrogation room. A few moments later, Emmy poked her head in.
“Goodness Sheriff, what did you say to her? She just about ran me over trying to get out of here.”
“Emmy, dig further into Mia’s time at UNH. Something happened that made her drop out of the pre-med program and I want to know what it is.”
When she returned to her office, Rick followed her. “I think Mia’s going to put up a dartboard with your face on it. She looked pissed when she left here.” Cammie told him what she’d learned. “Whoa. What made her decide to turn on Penelope like that?”
“Because I think it wasn’t only Penelope who was sleeping with Keith. Once I confronted Mia about the argument she had with Keith, she had to get the attention off of herself. What better place to put it but on the only other female in the group?” She shook her head. “What Mia failed to realize is that by lying about the argument, it put the spotlight squarely on her.”
“How are you going to prove all that?”
“I’m working on it. In the meantime, get your jacket. You and I are going to the Taylor house.
Rick’s eyes widened. “Are you nuts? Do you want your life to go down the toilet?”
“Penelope told me they each had two different costumes they used. Keith had two clown costumes, but Colin told me they only found one.”
“So?”
“So Jace told me the other night he saw a clown on the first floor just before we went upstairs and found Keith’s body. He said it came out one door and went into another.”
“Again, so?”
“Mia, Shray and Penelope all agreed that Keith was adamant he be the only clown in that house. When I went to the Taylor House yesterday, I found those doors. One was a closet. The other was the door to the basement. Now do you see why we need to go back there?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute! You actually went into that hell trap? Alone?”
“For Pete’s sakes, Rick. Focus! The clown on the ground floor couldn’t have been Keith because he was already dead in the attic. That means the person wearing that costume was the killer. He must have stolen Keith’s outfit and put it on so no one would think it strange to see a clown walking around a haunted house. It was the perfect getaway disguise.”
“Terrific. You’re still not telling me why we need to go over there.”
“Because I need to check something out to see if it fits with my scenario on what exactly happened that night.” She saw the look on his face and added, “Are you telling me you’re too scared to go?”
He returned her gaze. “Hell, yeah.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re a police officer. Are you really going to let a legend make you back down?”
“All legends are based on truth, you know.”
“Okay, let me put this another way. Are you really going to let me go in there alone? Again? You’re my back-up, remember? There’s no sense in tempting fate twice, is there?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “What happened to you in Hell House yesterday?”
“Nothing happened to me. I just want another set of eyes, that’s all.”
She saw him looking at her. She’d never lied to Rick before. To her disgust, she felt guilty. She threw her arms up in the air. “Alright, alright, I heard some sounds that sort of freaked me out.”
“Like what?”
“Like scratching sounds.”
“Like scratching sounds a mouse would make?”
She nodded. A little too eagerly. “Hey you know, I bet that’s what they were. Mice. Imagine that.”
It wasn’t often Rick saw Cammie scared. But she was scared now. And it scared him that she was scared. Yet, she was asking for his help. He couldn’t let her down.
“Alright, I’ll go,” he sighed. “But we’ve got to make a stop first. I’m not going anywhere near that place until Gran gives us both some kind of protection charm. We’re gonna need some mega mojo to get out of there without any evil forces globbing onto my butt. Or yours.”
To humor him, they drove to Rick’s grandmother’s house. A full blooded Abenaki, the tiny white haired woman had once been recognized as a powerful shamanic healer among her people. She was pushing ninety now. Painful arthritis and other ailments caused her to cut back on performing healings, preferring to leave those to the other powerful shaman, a man by the name of Paul Langevin, who lived across Mkazawi Pond from Cammie.
Because it was her beloved grandson, Gran made an exception. After smudging both Rick and Cammie with white sage, she intoned a few words over a set of charms that looked to Cammie like chewed up stones wrapped in rawhide thongs. When she was done, she put them around the officers’ necks.
“May the Great Spirit keep you from harm,” she said as she kissed them both. “And make sure your gun is loaded,” she added, her eyes twinkling with impish humor. Cammie wasn’t sure whether she should believe her or not, but just to be on the safe side, she made sure her pistol was fully loaded as they walked out to the Explorer.
“Okay, I feel better now,” Rick said as Cammie drove away. “Let’s go figure out what happened.”
It was three o’clock by the time they arrived at the Taylor place. It was still light out, but being mid-October, it would be dark in an hour and a half. Cammie didn’t plan to stay in there that long. She planned to get in and get out. Just as soon as she came what she was after.
As they climbed out of the vehicle, she stole a glance up at the attic window. It was empty. She silently breathed a sigh of relief.
“No matter what time of day it is, this place still looks creepy,” Rick remarked as they walked towards the back door. “Thank God we’ve got Gran’s charms.” He patted his chest where it was hidden beneath his uniform.
He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the police tape torn and the back door unlocked. He knew his boss was careful in everything she did – including making sure the door to a crime scene was locked. He started to ask her what had happened the day before, but changed his mind. Whatever it was that would make Cammie not lock up or replace the police tape was something he didn’t want to know about.
Stepping inside the kitchen, they both immediately felt it – that whisper of anticipation. Of expectation. Of waiting. A knowing that the two people who had just walked in didn’t belong there. As Cammie walked towards the stairs, she felt Rick right at her elbow.
“I don’t want to scare you or anything, but tell me you feel like we’re being watched.”
“Then don’t scare me by asking such a question,” she replied.
“Shit, you do feel it.”
“Let’s find the basement door.”
Rick abruptly stopped. “Basement?” he questioned.
“Yes.”
“Damn it, Cam, you and Jace watch those horror movies all the time. Don’t you know you never go into the basement, no matter what?”
“Ten minutes tops. We’ll go down, take a look around and come back upstairs faster than you can say boo.”
“You had to say that, didn’t you?”
“Sorry.”
Cammie showed him the closet door. “I believe that after killing Keith, the murderer hid in here waiting for the crowds to arrive. He then came out, went through this door—” She pointed to the second door “—and made his escape through the basement. The perfect disguise, the perfect getaway.”
She opened the door and was met with the smell of mildew and decay. And something worse.
An overwhelming feeling of fear.
Which was ridiculous. She and Rick had accompanied Penelope, Mia and Shray down these steps to their dressing rooms. That overpowering sense of dread hadn’t been there that night.
That’s because the house was full of people. Now it’s just you and Rick and whatever is lurking in the darkness.
She threw back her shoulders and refused to be cowered a second time. A man had been mercilessly murdered in this house and she was not going to be scared off again until she figured out what happened. Pushing through the fear, she searched for a light switch. Finding it, she turned it on and watched the wooden staircase in front of her flood with light. Without hesitation, she started down the stairs, the sounds of her boots absurdly loud in her ears.
Reaching the bottom, she pointed to her left. “I suppose it would be a waste of breath to ask you to check that side of the basement,” she said to Rick, whose eyes were as big as saucers.
“I’m here to watch your back, remember? And I’m not letting it out of my sight.”
“If you step any closer, you’re going to be on the other side of me.”
“No offense boss, but get used to it. I’m not leaving your side until we’re out of this hellhole.”
It was useless to argue with him. Besides, she did feel a little safer having him right there, even if his breath on her neck was annoying.
“Okay, follow me then.”
“What exactly are we looking for?”
“I’ll know when I find it.”
He clicked his tongue. “That’s helpful.”
They slowly made their way around the perimeter of the basement, with each taking turns pushing at all the windows. A few times Rick muttered his disgust as he found himself covered in cobwebs.
“I’m going to need counseling after this,” he groused as he shook off the cobwebs from his hair.
They were just about done and Cammie was beginning to wonder if her instincts had been wrong. There was one last window which faced out to the opposite side of the house, away from the parking area. There were several boxes piled about, placed there by Forensics when they’d done their own inspection. After moving them away, Cammie searched for something to climb up on. Rick quickly produced a step ladder. Leaning it against the brick wall, she climbed up, but the window was just out of reach. Looking around, she saw there was a design in the wall, with several bricks not flush to the wall. If she could hoist herself up on one of the bricks, she just might reach the window. She pulled her leg up and gingerly tested her weight on it. To her surprise, the brick moved.
“Well, that’s not securely positioned, is it?” Rick replied. “Do we have to worry that the foundation is falling apart?” Cammie didn’t answer. Instead, she grabbed the brick and pulled at it. “Be careful, Cam!” Rick cautioned. “We don’t need to be the latest victims of this place if the wall falls down and crushes us.”
“I think we’ll be okay,” she said as she noticed a few of the bricks loose. Slowly she pulled each one out, handing them to Rick. Where there was a sizeable hole, she took out her flashlight and shone it inside.
“Well, what do you know?” she said.
“If there’s a family of rats in there, I’m outta here.”
“Does it count if I say I smell a rat?”
Reaching into her pocket, she took out a pair of latex gloves and slipped them on. She then placed her hand inside.
Rick winced and quickly covered his eyes. “You’re insane. There could be a tarantula in there for all you know. Or a horde of rats ready to eat your fingers off.”
“Or a clown costume. And a prop knife,” she announced as she pulled out a bundle. Handing it to Rick, she carefully climbed down, then took back the bundle. Kneeling down, she spread it out on the floor.
“What the hell?” Rick replied as they both stared down at what Cammie had found.
The bundle contains three items. One was a killer clown mask. The other was a knife with a 10 inch rubber blade. The last item was a costume identical to the one Keith had been wearing with what looked like dried copper stains along the left arm and both wrists.
CHAPTER NINE
After taking photos of the articles before bagging them, Cammie used the other bricks in the wall, which were more secure, to scramble up to the window. Sure enough she was able to easily push open the window. “Okay, so this is probably how the killer got out. He came down here, changed back into his street clothes, hid the costume and knife in the wall and climbed out this window. Now to see how he got in.”
Taking the evidence bags with them, they left the basement. Once they were upstairs, Rick breathed a sigh of relief. “Please don’t ever make me go down there again.”
“Nothing happened, did it?”
“We’re not out of here yet.”
They climbed up the stairs and Cammie walked to the end of the corridor. Instead of entering the attic, however, she walked down the backstairs. Rick was about to follow when she came back up again.
“Shray said his job was to stand by the back door to make sure no one re-entered the house, once they’d exited, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“And part of Keith’s act was to keep this corridor in complete darkness until he was ready to make his appearance. That’s when the strobe lights came on, correct?”
“Correct.”
“We know that Keith was killed just before they opened the front doors. And Jace saw the clown go into the basement just as we were about to go up the stairs.” She turned and looked at Rick. “What if that clown was Shray?”
Rick took it in and nodded. “You know, it could have been. Somehow he found out his fiancé was doing the horizontal with his best friend. Naturally he’s angry. He wants revenge. By sharing the dressing room with Keith, he had easy access to Keith’s second clown costume. So he puts it on, sneaks up the back steps before the doors are open to the public, slits Keith’s throat, hoists him up, and manages to get downstairs just as you guys are about to go upstairs. He takes off the clown outfit and puts on the Michael Myers costume which probably took all of two seconds. He tosses the murder weapon behind the boxes, stashes the blood stained clown outfit, mask and fake knife into the wall niche, climbs out the basement window and is back at his post by the back door just as you’re discovering the body.”
She smiled at him. “There may be a future for you in law enforcement, after all.”
“Now that we’ve come to my brilliant conclusion, I say we congratulate ourselves outside. I’m convinced this place is watching us and I don’t intend to become its kibble bits any time soon.”
The next morning, Shray, Mia and Penelope were standing in Cammie’s office.
“My deputy and I found some articles that we believe may have belonged to Keith. They’re in the conference room next door. I asked you here to verify if these articles were indeed his.”
As Rick led them away, Cammie hung back. Just as Penelope passed by her,
Cammie put her hand on her arm. “How did you get that bruise on your forehead?”
She’d noticed the ugly purple mark as soon as Penelope entered HQ. The young woman absently put her fingers up to it.
“Just a stupid mishap. When we got back to Willow Street, I was in the closet going through my clothes when the strongbox I had put up on the shelf fell down and clipped me in the forehead.”
“You could have been seriously hurt.”
Penelope shrugged, but said nothing. Instead, she hurried out of Cammie’s office. Once again, the sheriff had the feeling she was being lied to, but had to let it go.
Entering the conference room, she saw Rick standing on one side of the table, while Shray, Mia and Penelope were standing on the other. In front of them were the evidence bags with the costume, knife and mask inside. However, before the bags were photographs that Cammie had taken the night before. They were blown up so the three could see just what they were looking at.
By the stricken looks on their faces, it was clear they recognized the costume.
“Do these items look familiar?”
Shray nodded. “The costume and prop knife looks like Keith’s. However, I’ve never seen the mask.” The two women agreed.
“All were found in the basement of the Taylor House.”
“Of course they would be,” Mia said. “Our dressing rooms were down there.”
“These were shoved in a niche in the wall beneath one of the windows. We believe it was worn by the killer when he murdered Keith. You see, on the night he was killed, another clown was seen downstairs. He disappeared into the basement just before I found Keith’s body.”
Penelope snatched up the photograph and stared at it. Her eyes widened in horror. “These stains on the sleeves? Are they Keith’s blood?”
“It hasn’t been tested yet. But we think it is.”
She sucked in her breath. Then suddenly fell to the floor in a faint.
Rick hurried to her while Cammie dashed to her desk where she took out a vial of smelling salts. She handed them to Rick, who passed the vial under Penelope’s nose. A moment later, her eyes fluttered open and she began to cough.
“You’re going to be okay,” he said as he helped her up to a sitting position. “You fainted.”
As if remembering why she’d fainted in the first place, Penelope covered her face with her hands and began to weep. Shray kneeled down on the other side of Penelope and threw his arm around her. “It’s okay, Penelope. It’s okay.”
“There’s a couch in my office. Why don’t you have her lie down there while I call Doc?” Cammie offered.
Between Shray and Rick, they managed to help the sobbing woman to her feet. As they gently led her into Cammie’s office, she called Doc.
