Death of a Bean Counter, page 18
I didn’t know how to answer that, so I was glad when Pavlik strode up. ‘We need to talk to both your sister and you at the station.’
‘Why?’ he asked. ‘What did she do?’
What did she do? Nice guy.
‘We’ll talk at the station.’ Pavlik seemed at his calmest, but his eyes were dark gray, belying that.
‘Hey, get that dog away from my car.’
That dog being Frank, who was sniffing the tires. He looked up, startled at the tone.
‘Frank,’ I said warningly. My sheepdog had been known to vengeance pee. ‘Don’t even think of it.’
He stalked away.
‘Unless you’re going to charge us, we don’t have to go anywhere with you,’ Jason said. ‘I’m calling my lawyer.’
‘You do that,’ Pavlik said, signaling his deputies. ‘Tell him or her to meet you at the station.’
‘What are we being charged with?’ Jason yelled as the deputy cuffed him.
‘Your sister, tampering with evidence. You, we’ll see about.’
Jason was still swearing as they closed the squad door.
‘Honest to God,’ I told Sarah and Amy at the shop after I dropped Frank off at home, ‘I almost asked if I could park his car for him. That thing is beautiful. Kind of yellow.’
‘Since when do you like cars so much? You’ve never cared a whit about my Firebird.’
‘Your Firebird doesn’t smell new.’ Just the opposite, in fact. You could still smell the cigarettes smoked in it over forty-some years, despite Sarah’s best attempts to fumigate.
‘It’s yellow.’
‘It’s not this yellow. Here I took a picture.’
‘Wow,’ Sarah said. ‘That is yellow.’
‘Or green,’ Amy said, looking over her shoulder. ‘It’s like a highlighter.’
She was right. It was practically the color of the frogs in the front pond.
‘Paint to sample, most likely.’ Sarah was grudgingly impressed, I could tell. Key word, grudgingly. ‘Couldn’t get away with anything in that car.’
‘Not even murder, apparently,’ Amy said, getting us back on subject.
I put my phone away.
‘So the case is solved,’ Sarah said. ‘Is Pavlik pleased?’
‘He’d have been more pleased if I’d simply presented my thesis to him, I’m sure, but he’s pretty much given up on that happening.’
‘It’s not very exciting that way,’ Amy said.
No, it’s not. So not going to happen. But I had kept my cell phone recording in my pocket when I conducted my ad hoc interview with Jayden. Can’t say I don’t learn from experience.
‘Pavlik still has to build a case against Jason,’ I told them. ‘Hopefully his alibis will fall apart under questioning. They’re young.’
‘His alibis are young?’ Amy asked.
‘Yes. Like two eighteen-year-old girls. They were both with Jason—’
Amy held up her hand. ‘Never mind. I don’t want to know.’
‘Maggy, please,’ Sarah said, ‘that’s Amy’s nearly ex-stepson you’re talking about.’
‘Stop it.’ Amy turned to me. ‘How did you know it was Jayden who had hidden the gun, Maggy?’
‘The discrepancy between Jayden’s understanding and Jason’s understanding of what Kip told them about the will over lunch bothered me all along. It seemed too important a thing for one of them to get so badly wrong. As time went by, it was clear that Jason was right, and Kip had intended to change his will but hadn’t had the chance.’
‘Luckily for Jason and Jayden,’ Sarah said.
‘Exactly. It gives one or both of them a motive to kill their father. Then Pavlik asked if we had any lemonade or iced tea.’
‘Say what?’ from Sarah.
‘I know it’s stupid, but it reminded me of Jason asking Mrs Gilroy about those same two drinks and how cloyingly sweet she was to him.’ Versus to me. ‘More than one person has told me how devoted both she – and, more importantly, Jayden – were to Jason.’
‘It’s true,’ Amy said. ‘Do you think Mrs Gilroy was involved?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Maybe she helped after the fact in some way, but she wasn’t there on Thursday when Jayden found Kip and hid the gun. It’s her day off.’
‘How did it go down with Jayden?’ Sarah asked. ‘You mentioned iced tea and she folded?’
‘Sadly, no. But she made a mistake. She referred to the weapon that was found as a pistol, even though I’d repeatedly just called it a gun.’
‘Pistol, gun – what’s the difference?’ Amy asked.
‘A pistol is a semi-automatic,’ Sarah told her. ‘You’d never call a revolver a pistol.’
Well I had, once, and been corrected. ‘Jayden supposedly had never seen the weapon. How did she know it was a semi-automatic?’
Amy looked doubtful. ‘Maybe she just assumed. I mean, do people even use revolvers anymore?’
‘Yes, in fact they do,’ Sarah said, a little miffed. ‘But the point is that anybody who knows enough about guns to use the word pistol knows there’s a difference and wouldn’t just “assume”.’
‘For all she knew, it could have been an assault rifle,’ I pointed out. ‘Like I said, I just referred to it as a gun.’
‘But it was under a tree,’ Amy said. ‘Wouldn’t an assault rifle be too big?’
‘Anyway,’ I said, ‘it really doesn’t matter, because when I called her on it, Jayden freaked.’
‘She confessed?’ Sarah said disgustedly. ‘What a wuss.’
‘It took a little more work than that,’ I said. ‘I accused her of breaking the window to make it look like an outside job and tipping over the lamp. Pointed out that breaking the mirror was overkill, since only one shot was fired.’
‘And it stayed in her father’s head.’
‘Yeah,’ I said ruefully, ‘I actually said that to her. Kind of regret it now.’
‘I would think so,’ Amy said. ‘Don’t you feel at all sorry for Jayden? She’s just eighteen years old.’
‘Of course. I feel awful for her,’ I said. ‘Saddest thing is that she did it out of love for her brother.’
‘Who killed her father,’ Sarah said. ‘Which is kind of messed up.’
Kind of.
‘But other than that, you must be pretty damn proud of yourself,’ Sarah continued. ‘Solved the case and it turns out to be your favorite suspect. Or your favorite suspect after Jacque.’
Amy faced me. ‘You genuinely thought Jacque did it?’
‘More like she wanted Jacque to have done it,’ Sarah said. ‘Then she found out he’s her cousin and became all sunshine and charity. It was disgusting.’
‘Knowing that I loved Jacque wasn’t enough for you?’ Amy demanded.
‘No, actually, I wasn’t too keen on your loving him,’ I told her. ‘Wasn’t sure it was a good thing.’
‘And now?’
‘Still not sure,’ Sarah supplied.
Amy looked at me and I shrugged.
‘But I am glad this is over,’ I said. ‘And I really want you to be happ—’
My phone rang. Pavlik.
I held up a finger and said, ‘Hi there. Have you booked our suspects?’
I listened and listened. ‘But they’re probably— You have it? And it’s … Yeah, I understand. But where?’
Amy and Sarah were signaling wildly that they wanted the scoop. I hung up.
‘Well?’ Sarah asked.
‘Well, Jason’s alibi is holding up.’
‘Up?’ Sarah crooked her index finger. ‘Like his weenie with those two girls?’
‘Please,’ I said. ‘A little maturity?’
‘Aww, who’s all sad now? You were patting yourself on the back a minute ago.’
‘You really were, Maggy,’ Amy said. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t dislocate your shoulder.’
‘Wait a second.’ I was punching up something on my cell phone.
‘Well, not to worry,’ Sarah said. ‘He probably convinced the girls to lie and they’re sticking to it.’
‘Tell the sheriff to send Fergussen in to question them,’ Amy suggested. ‘That’ll scare them into telling the truth.’
‘They swear they are telling the truth,’ I said.
‘They’ll have to prove it.’ Sarah said. ‘It’s Jason and the two girls’ word against the evidence. If the fingerpri—’
‘Oh, no.’ I was staring at my phone.
‘What?’ Sarah asked, craning her neck to see over my shoulder.
‘Oh, no, this.’ I held up my phone.
EIGHTEEN
‘They taped themselves,’ I said for the third time. The first two had been to Sarah and Amy at the shop and now I was home with Pavlik, grilling hot dogs.
‘That surprises you?’ Pavlik got up from the porch steps to check the dogs on the grill. ‘These done enough for you?’
‘If they’re not black, they’re not ready,’ I said. ‘And yes, it does surprise me. At least from the side of the girls. For Jason I suppose it was like he was posting a trophy. Two girls, on the hood of a Porsche. Look at me!’ I was sad for the poor car.
‘And the girls couldn’t have been doing the same thing?’ Pavlik closed the grill lid and came back to sit. ‘That’s a bit of a double standard, isn’t it?’
‘I’m doing a girl and a guy, look at me?’ I groaned. ‘I suppose so. But where does this leave us?’
‘Looking like idiots.’
‘Thanks to me.’
He put his arm around me and squeezed. ‘Yes.’
I started to pull away and then relaxed. ‘Jayden did hide the gun. I was right about that.’
‘You were. She jumped to the same conclusion that we did. She thought her brother killed her father.’
‘So, she wiped off the prints, disposed of the gun and made it appear to be a break-in,’ I said.
‘Not a bad cover-up,’ Pavlik said.
‘Especially for a kid,’ I said. ‘Maybe Mrs Gilroy read classic mysteries to her when she was a baby.’
Pavlik got up again and flipped up the lid of the grill. ‘Black as charcoal.’
‘Perfect,’ I said, picking up the plate and going to join him. ‘Is it possible Jayden was protecting herself, not Jason? That she killed her father.’
‘She too has a rock-solid alibi,’ Pavlik said, tonging the dogs into buns. ‘Nearly as solid as these hotdogs.’
‘Don’t be silly. They’re perfect,’ I said, waving the aroma from the grilled sausage toward my nose. ‘Don’t you love the smell?’
‘Carcinogens?’
Spoilsport. ‘Jayden’s alibi. Do we have that on video, too?’
‘No, but she and her roommates were watching a show and texting and tweeting about it simultaneously.’
Multi-tasking like her brother.
‘And the texts came through the right towers and all?’
‘“And all”,’ Pavlik said with a grin. ‘Do you want me to explain how it works again?’
‘I prefer not.’ I took a bite.
‘Do we have anything healthy to go with these?’ Pavlik asked. ‘Maybe a salad?’
‘Potato chips. Which are vegetables.’
‘Only in Maggy-land.’ He tried a bite. ‘These are beyond burned.’
‘Yeah, they kind of are,’ I admitted, setting mine down, too. ‘I think I had you keep them on a little too long.’ Can’t say I don’t take responsibility for my failings.
‘I’ll put on a couple more,’ Pavlik said, picking up the pack and sliding two sausages out. ‘And this time I’ll decide when they’re done.’
Control freak. ‘Have you released Kip’s body yet?’
Pavlik lifted his head. ‘Let’s see if I can follow your train of thought. Hot dogs. Burnt. Incinerated …’
‘Cremated, exactly.’ I settled back on the porch step, the plate of burned hot dogs next to me.
‘Not yet, and it’s a good thing, considering we’re back at square one.’
‘The killer wasn’t Jason or Jayden, who stood to gain the most from their father’s death. What does that leave us with?’
‘Suspect-wise, Amy, of course, and Jacque. Sarah. Mary. Anybody else who Fargo may have bilked.’ Pavlik said it bleakly.
‘Any “bilking” connection takes the case back to the Feds?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ He settled the hot dogs on the grill and left the lid up this time.
‘Pretty much every suspect is a friend of mine,’ I said as Frank and Mocha zoomed around the corner.
‘You say that like it’s unusual.’ He rotated the wieners.
It did happen with some frequency. ‘What about Mrs Gilroy?’
Pavlik turned, tong in hand. ‘Killing Fargo? Why?’
I stood up. ‘Same reason that Jayden hid the gun. To protect Jason. Or in Mrs Gilroy’s case, to protect the fortunes of both Jason and Jayden.’
‘Killing her long-time employer to keep him from changing the will?’ He turned the dogs again. ‘Can you hand me another plate?’
I pulled a plate out from under the one holding the burned wieners. ‘Maybe the night-vision thing is fiction. Something she made up early on so she wouldn’t have to stay late and now it worked to her advantage.’
‘When she returned to the house in the dead of night to kill Fargo?’
‘With his own gun, which she’d certainly know was there,’ I reminded him.
‘Do we have more buns?’
I pulled them out of the plastic bag and opened them so he could place the sausages in them. ‘You sure those are done?’
‘They’re pre-cooked. You just have to heat them.’
There was heating and then there was heating. But I’d already had my shot. ‘Anyway, back to Mrs Gilroy. She’s the perfect perp.’
‘Because she’s dead?’
‘And I don’t like her. Or didn’t like her.’
‘And she didn’t like you and spill her guts to you?’ Pavlik had taken Sarah’s theory of ‘like’ and added an investigative component.
‘Hey, I tried everything. Sympathizing with her loss, bonding over her reading material—’ I stopped.
‘Here, try one.’ He offered me a bun with a perfectly grilled hot dog in it.
I didn’t take it.
‘You’re honestly going to make me burn yours?’ he asked, looking a little hurt.
‘What?’ I took the dog. ‘No, I just had a thought and now …’
‘Gone.’
‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘I was thinking about talking to Mrs Gilroy and her book and all and—’
‘No, I mean the burned hot dogs.’
Sure enough, the plate was empty, and the dogs were licking their chops.
‘I Googled it and apparently charcoal can’t kill a dog,’ I said to Sarah from behind the counter.
We were in the sweet spot between the commuters going and the lunch crowd arriving.
‘You’re hilarious,’ she said, checking the cream container. ‘You were prepared to eat “incinerated” wieners yourself, but your dogs eat them and you’re all worried.’
Well, yes.
‘Did you ever remember what you were thinking of when the dogs ate the dogs?’ She dropped the lid back onto the creamer. Apparently, it was either already full or she just didn’t feel like filling it.
‘No. It had something to do with talking to Mrs Gilroy in the kitchen. And maybe something you told me, too.’ I stuck out my hand. ‘Does that creamer need filling?’
She ignored me. ‘Something I told you about Mrs Gilroy?’
‘I think so.’
The bell jangled on the door and Catherine Barry stuck her head in. ‘Good morning, ladies. Just stopped to see if you’d made a decision.’
‘About what?’ I asked, as she came up to the counter.
‘Why, becoming the JavaDo representative in Brookhills, of course. You’ve forgotten.’
‘She’s having a pretty forgetful day today,’ Sarah said, pulling out another stack of napkins for the condiment cart.
I’d have said I remembered the important things, but even that didn’t seem to be true. ‘I’m sorry, Catherine, with Kip’s death and Amy and Sarah’s involvement—’
‘Oh, Sarah was involved with Kip as well?’ She put both elbows on the counter and rested her chin on her linked hands. ‘That makes three – or three hundred – of us. Do tell.’
‘I wasn’t “involved” the way I think you mean,’ Sarah said, coming up behind her. ‘But interesting to know you were.’
‘A long time ago,’ I told her.
‘Years,’ Catherine said. ‘But if you weren’t Kip’s lover, Sarah, you must have been a client. Did that not go well? It usually didn’t with him, at least ultimately.’
I cocked my head. ‘You sound a little bitter. Or at least more bitter than you did the last time we spoke about Kip. I thought he was a friend – you know, helping you find outlets like ours for your espresso machines?’
‘For a healthy finder’s fee and an ongoing cut, thank you very much.’
I exchanged glances with Sarah. ‘I have to admit I’m not astonished at the “finder’s fee”, but the ongoing cut seems unusual.’
‘It was,’ she said. ‘But with either scenario or both, he had a responsibility to his personal clients to disclose his financial arrangement with JavaDo.’
It sounded like she was parroting something she’d been told. Maybe by the Feds?
‘A breach of ethics,’ Sarah was saying. ‘Not surprising, since Kip didn’t have any. But you didn’t appear to have a problem with it either.’
Catherine shrugged. ‘It was a symbiotic relationship. But when he started screwing me—’
‘Literally or figuratively?’ I interrupted, wanting to stay on the same page of the playbook. Or maybe just being curious.
‘Figuratively, this time.’ She tossed her hair. ‘He was managing the receivables and investing a portion for us—’
‘Let me guess. Poof, it’s gone,’ Sarah said. ‘Boo hoo for you.’
Catherine’s eyes narrowed. ‘Damn right. Boo hoo for me.’
‘Only because it happened to you this time,’ I said. ‘You were just fine with Kip cheating everybody else.’
‘No, I wasn’t … OK, maybe I was.’ She’d apparently run out of indignant steam and turned around a chair at the nearest table to sink into. ‘He’d just changed so much lately. It was like he was running away from something.’
