Death of a Bean Counter, page 16
‘It’s Amy,’ I said, punching up the message. ‘What the hell? My screen is locked. I can’t get the message.’
‘Hello?’ the phone said.
‘She’s calling,’ Sarah said.
I punched speaker. ‘Sorry, Amy. I thought you were texting. You never call.’
‘I know, but I decided we should talk.’
‘Thank you. And I’m sorry.’
‘You’re welcome. And I forgive you.’
Well that was easy. If a little … coolish. But we’d work through it. ‘What’s the word on Jacque?’
‘He’s being released on bail. I have to go down there in about an hour.’ She sounded nervous.
I glanced at Sarah and she mouthed, ‘Go.’
‘Want company?’ I said into the phone.
If I haven’t mentioned it before, Cousin Jacque Oui is about five feet, eight inches tall and French. That’s the best I can describe him.
Coming out of lock-up with Amy, he looked a tad shorter and less French. ‘What eez Maggy doing here?’
Still Jacque, though.
‘I’m your cousin, so shut up.’ And I was still me.
‘Zee cousin?’ He seemed astonished.
‘Not the cousin, your cousin. And, yes. Eric did his DNA as, I assume, did you. Surprise! Instant relatives you don’t want.’
‘I had no idea,’ he said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. ‘Yet, I see no reason for you to be here.’
‘Be nice,’ Amy told him. ‘Maggy is here to help.’
Jacque looked skeptical.
‘And Eric made me come.’
That Oui seemed to believe. ‘Tell zee boy I am out of zee prison and am about to embark on the road to prove my innocence.’
‘By finding the one-armed man?’
‘Zee what??’
‘Never mind.’ No use explaining classic American television to—
‘Oh, yes,’ Jacque said. ‘That would make me Zee Richard Kimble.’
‘Played by David Janssen,’ I said, ‘but I’m surprised you—’
‘No, Harrison Ford,’ Amy corrected us. ‘But why are we talking about old movies at a time like this?’
‘The Fugitive was a television series before it was a movie.’
‘It must be really old then,’ Amy said. ‘That movie was more than twenty-five years ago. Harrison Ford was young.’
‘Impossible,’ Jacque said. ‘It was …’
‘1993,’ I told him, proving Amy’s math. ‘This is what you get by associating with a younger woman, Jacque. Our recent memories are their “olden days”.’
‘No, this is what I get for dating this woman,’ Jacque said, looping his arm around Amy’s waist. ‘Thank you for standing by me, my dear.’
Amy pinked up. ‘You’re welcome.’
‘Sweet.’ I would have added ‘in a sickening, candy corn kind of way’, except I was trying to turn over a new leaf where Jacque was concerned. ‘So what happened, Jacque? Were you charged with punching Fergussen?’
‘That was zee trumped-up charge,’ he said indignantly, moving toward Amy’s car. ‘Designed to allow the authorities to question me about zee murder, itself.’
‘Actually, it’s not,’ I said, checking my phone and then sliding it into my pocket to follow them. ‘I saw you punch the guy.’ Not that I hadn’t wanted to do it myself at various times.
‘Barely a graze.’ He stopped by the passenger seat and waited for Amy to unlock the door.
‘You broke his nose.’
‘Perhaps he has zee glass nose?’ He laughed, sliding into the seat.
I reached past him to snag the purse I’d left on the floor of the passenger seat and climbed into the back. ‘You two probably haven’t heard the latest: the gun was found.’
Amy had just gotten into the driver seat and now she twisted around to face me. ‘The gun that killed Kip? Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I wasn’t sure Pavlik would want the word out.’ But since he wasn’t getting back to me, it seemed fair game. Besides, I wanted to see Jacque’s reaction.
‘Good,’ he said.
‘Good?’
‘Yes.’ The Frenchman swiveled in his seat, too. ‘It is not my gun, so why would its discovery bother me?’
‘Where did they find it, Maggy?’ Amy asked.
‘Under a newly planted tree in the backyard.’
Amy frowned. ‘How did it get there?’
‘We assume whoever shot Kip dumped it in the hole as they ran out the back door and then dragged the tree on top of it. Rafael filled in the hole, never knowing it was there.’
‘Is that how the killer got in?’ Amy asked. ‘The kitchen door?’
‘There’s a broken pane of glass. Somebody could have reached through and turned the deadbolt to get in. Went out the same way.’
‘That seems suspicious,’ Jacque said.
‘What?’
‘The gardener finding the murder weapon.’
‘He wasn’t in the country when Kip died.’
‘No doubt about that?’ Amy asked. ‘Not that I want it to be Rafael. He’s nice. But anybody else—’
‘Besides you and Jacque?’ I said. ‘I get it.’
When nobody said anything, I continued. ‘Did Kip own a gun, Amy?’
‘Honestly, I have no idea. What kind was it?’
That specific information was likely something that wouldn’t be released to the public just yet. And angry though I might be at Pavlik – and vice versa – I wasn’t about to overstep that. ‘Not sure.’
‘I didn’t see anything about the bullet in the autopsy.’
‘You saw Kip’s autopsy?’
‘Jayden showed me. Very creepy. Did you know Kip was a drinker?’
‘Like an alcoholic kind of drinker?’
She nodded. ‘Enough to cause liver damage, can you believe it? Jayden was shocked. I think she’s worried about Jason now, with all his partying.’
‘Poor kid.’ I meant Jayden. She’d lost her dad and now she had to worry about her older brother Jason. ‘How much do you think Jayden knows about Kip’s business dealings?’
Amy started the car. ‘She worked in his office, so I assume she knows something. You’re thinking about the missing money?’
‘There is money missing?’ That perked Jacque right up. He’d turned to face front and I thought he might have been snoozing up there. ‘Whose money? They must be suspects, as well.’
‘They must,’ I said. ‘Unfortunately, the only ones I know about are Mary Callahan, who invested with Kip at your recommendation, I understand, and Sarah.’
‘And why is that unfortunate?’
‘Because they’re my friends, and I prefer they not be suspected of murder.’
‘Even if that takes zee pressure off your own flesh and blood?’
Playing the cousin card so soon. ‘Yes.’
‘Maggy,’ Amy warned, backing out of the parking spot. ‘You said you would be nice.’
‘I’m being nice and honest.’
‘It is not anything I do not expect. One family member turning against another. It is a story told over the ages.’
‘Where in the world does this penchant for drama come from, Jacque?’ I asked. ‘It’s not in my blood line.’
Jacque huffed.
And Amy changed the subject back to an earlier one – one that seemed to be bothering her. ‘Speaking of blood lines, don’t you wonder if we know anybody? I had no idea Kip was a problem drinker, but neither did his children. They said usually he drank iced tea. How can you drink that much alcohol and hide it?’
Put it in your iced tea. ‘I remember my mother telling me once that alcoholics are liars. It’s part of the disease.’ She had been talking about my father.
‘Maybe, but do they lie about everything? He had cancer, too, and didn’t tell anybody.’
Poor Amy. I wondered whether she was considering taking Jacque in for a full work-up before she committed. Buy ’em used and that’s what you get.
‘The autopsy showed Kip had cancer, too?’ I asked.
‘That he’d had surgery to remove a squamous cell carcinoma.’
‘Skin cancer,’ I said.
‘In zee man’s defense,’ Jacque said, ‘he probably thought it was no big deal to have a mole or small imperfection removed.’
I wondered what Jacque had had removed.
‘Thing is,’ Amy continued, ‘the autopsy opened a whole Pandora’s box of information about Kip for Jayden and Jason.’
‘Things that you were never aware of either, my dear,’ Jacque said. ‘And you were going to marry the man.’
She pulled up to the curb and swiveled in her seat. ‘Never. I … well, I never would have gotten over you.’
As they made moon-y sounds and leaned in for a smooch, I climbed out of the back seat, only to find I was in front of my house. Pavlik’s Harley was parked in the driveway.
Time to patch up my own relationship.
Ready or not.
Pavlik was sitting on the back stoop, throwing the ball for the dogs.
‘I still don’t know how she does that,’ I said, nodding at the chihuahua who had managed to wrangle a tennis ball.
‘Tiny sharp teeth.’ He slid to make room. ‘Fuzzy ball.’
I sat down. ‘Are we talking again?’
‘I didn’t know we’d stopped.’ He took the ball from Mocha and threw it for Frank.
The sheepdog jogged up to it and, apparently spent, laid down.
‘I texted. You didn’t text back.’
‘I thought actually talking, like face-to-face, would be better.’
That sounded suspiciously like ‘we have to talk’ – the death knell for any relationship.
But then he surprised me. ‘I’m sorry I snapped at you.’
I laid my head against his shoulder. ‘And I’m sorry I didn’t call when Rafael told me he had an idea where the gun might be. It just seemed like a long shot.’
‘And an adventure.’ Pavlik watched as Mocha trotted up to where the ball and sheepdog both lay, gave Frank a dark look and picked up the ball.
‘She’s thinking, “Do I have to do everything?”,’ I said. ‘But you’re right. It did seem like a fun thing to check out.’ I frowned. ‘What does that say about me?’
‘That digging up murder weapons is “fun”?’ Pavlik asked. ‘Welcome to my life. I don’t blame you for being curious and, to be honest, it’s Rojas who should have called us.’
‘He was afraid, I think,’ I said. ‘He doesn’t entirely trust Fergussen and I don’t blame him.’
‘I guess that’s the other reason I was so angry.’
‘You think Fergussen is a good guy? A good cop?’
‘I think he’s brusque and small-minded.’ Pavlik tilted his head to look me in the eye. ‘I believed at one point that we could make a good cop of him. Al Taylor started out very much the same way.’
‘Al Taylor was a pain in the butt, but I don’t think he was a bad guy.’ Deputy Taylor had died a few months earlier.
‘No. With Al I think it was more that he enjoyed playing “bad cop”.’ Pavlik’s grin was weak. Losing Taylor had been a blow.
‘You saw something of Taylor in Fergussen.’
Pavlik lifted his shoulders and let them drop. ‘Or just wanted to. The jury is still out.’
‘If this case ever gets to jury.’ I held out my hand for the ball and Mocha dropped it in. ‘Anything back from ballistics?’
‘It’s still too early, but I’m pretty certain it’s the gun that killed Fargo. Wiped clean. Semi-automatic pistol loaded with nine-millimeter, hollow point bullets buried in the yard of somebody killed by a—’
‘Semi-automatic pistol loaded with nine-millimeter hollow points.’ I threw the ball. ‘The killer must have gone out the back and saw his or her opportunity to get rid of the gun. But why not take it with them?’
‘It’s not as easy to get rid of a gun as you imagine.’
‘I do imagine those things,’ I said, smiling.
‘I know you do. Just be aware that it’s not like the movies. Hiding things is tough these days.’
With CC cameras and mobile phones and people everywhere. None of which was true in this case. ‘Was the gun registered?’
‘To Fargo.’
‘Shot with his own gun.’ As I said it, I realized it was a little too much on the mark if Pavlik had Al Taylor on his mind.
‘Which means the killer knew it was in the house.’
I chewed on that. ‘It can’t be anybody he struggled with – anybody who took the gun. Kip was shot in bed … asleep?’
‘He was on his back with his eyes closed. Shot in the temple.’
‘Close range?’
A nod.
‘It’s like a hit. Or assassination.’ I shivered. ‘Who could do that?’
‘I don’t know. But probably somebody who knew where the gun was.’
‘Unless he had it out on the nightstand or something for self-protection,’ I said. ‘Maybe he was worried that one of the people he swindled was coming after him. That person showed up, saw the gun and blam!’
‘Blam?’
‘Blam! Kip was apparently a real piece of work. Embezzling, not paying for work, even stiffing waiters. Apparently his father was like that before him. Laurel thinks there are probably liens on the house. Do you know—’
He held up his hand. ‘The Feds are looking into Fargo’s finances – the money part of this case.’
‘Which is why you told me to stay out of it.’
‘Which is what they told me as well.’
Pavlik wouldn’t have liked that any more than I had. ‘How do you separate the two? The “money part” could well be the motive.’
‘If it appears that way, I’m to let them know. At this point, they’re just crunching numbers.’
Which is the way I’m sure Pavlik wanted to keep it.
‘Then people like Sarah or Mary, who Kip may have cheated. They’re not suspects?’
‘They’re not suspects I can question, at least effectively, because I don’t have any of the information on their possible losses. Or even if there are losses.’
‘Well, that’s frustrating.’
‘Tell me about it. For now, though, it looks like the killer had access to the house and knew about the gun.’
‘Meaning Jason and Jayden.’
‘And the housekeeper and gardener.’
‘Rafael didn’t know about the gun.’
‘So he says,’ Pavlik said. ‘Not that it matters. He was out of the country when Fargo was killed.’
‘No doubt then?’
‘Nope. And the housekeeper is dead of natural causes.’
‘You’re sure about that, too.’
‘Heart failure. Apparently after she got home on Sunday night.’
‘Sunday night.’ My maggots lined up with that, but I’d thought perhaps the woman had died the next morning – the day of the funeral. ‘She was in her uniform.’
‘Probably didn’t have a chance to change out of it.’ Pavlik was trying to pry the ball from Mocha’s tiny little teeth.
‘She was making tea,’ I said. ‘Maybe she felt ill and didn’t realize what was happening. A lot of women don’t recognize the symptoms because they’re different than the symptoms that men usually get.’
‘They think it’s indigestion or heartburn, like my mom did.’ Pavlik’s mother had taken ill when having dinner with us at a restaurant in Chicago. She died a few hours later.
‘That leaves us with Jayden and Jason. Jason is my favorite.’
‘Mine, too, but turns out he was in Madison all night.’
Damn. I opened my mouth. ‘You’re—’
‘Sure? Yes.’ He held up two fingers. ‘Two girls.’
‘Aww, that’s just wrong.’ Two men, sure! ‘All night?’
‘Close enough.’
‘And then there was one.’
‘Nope. Jayden has an alibi, too.’
‘Two guys?’
‘Just one, but she has roommates, too.’
‘Damn.’ I brightened. ‘I still like Jacque for this.’
‘Your cousin?’
Apparently, blood isn’t all that much thicker than water, in my case. ‘Yes.’
‘Still a possibility.’ Pavlik set down the ball. ‘But I just don’t see him walking up to a sleeping man and putting a gun to his temple. Do you?’
‘Sure, I …’ I sighed. ‘No.’
‘Which brings us back to Amy.’
I sat back. ‘You’re telling me you honestly think she snuck into Kip’s house and …’ A thought struck me. ‘How did the killer get in? That broken kitchen window?’
‘Yes. Somebody just had to reach in to turn the deadbolt and get in.’
‘The rest of the doors and windows were locked?’
He nodded.
Which jibed with what Jayden had told me. She’d had to unlock the front door when she arrived.
‘Well, enough,’ Pavlik said, standing. ‘We’ve arrived at the same brick wall that I’ve been knocking my head against all day.’
I stood, too. ‘You want something to drink while I get dinner?’
Pavlik smiled. ‘While you order dinner? Sure. Got a lemonade or maybe iced tea?’
Lemonade or iced tea – it jogged the memory of Jason in the kitchen, asking Mrs Gilroy for the same drinks. The way the woman doted on bad-boy Jason.
And she hadn’t been the only one.
SIXTEEN
Wednesday was my day off this week. Good, because I had the time to do what I needed. Bad because with both Amy and Sarah working, I didn’t have a sidekick and every Nick needs a Nora, every Nero Wolfe needs an Archie Goodwin.
‘You think you’re up to it Frankie-boy?’
The sheepdog raised his mug from his dish and shook, sending water in all directions.
‘Good,’ I said, getting the leash.
At the sound of the jangle, Mocha looked up from where she was doing her morning ablutions. ‘Frank is going detecting with me. You need to stay here, OK?’
If I’d expected an argument, I was disappointed. The chihuahua loved her baths and then, I knew, she’d spend an hour lounging in the puddle of sun streaming in through the front window.
Frank trotted over and I snapped his leash on. As we went down the porch steps to the driveway, he licked my hand. ‘It is nice to spend some quality time together, isn’t it?’
