5 A Bad Egg (14 page)

“Okay. Let’s
go.”

Moose backed
all the way out of the spot and started driving toward the gap in the woods. As
we turned the corner, he said, “You know, there’s no reason for both of us to have
to walk five football fields. Why don’t you get out now, and I’ll join you
after I’ve parked?”

“I didn’t
think you liked us splitting up,” I said.

“Come on.
It’s Cal. I don’t think that you’re going to be in any danger out here in the
bright light of mid-afternoon. Find him if you can, but I’d appreciate it if
you’d wait for me before you start grilling him.”

“I’m not
making any promises,” I said as I got out of the truck.

Moose just
laughed as he drove off. He knew that soliciting a promise from me had been
futile, so I couldn’t imagine that he was all that surprised when I refused.

I thought
about going inside where it was air conditioned, but we’d found Cal outside
before, and I had a hunch that was where he might be now.

I did my best
to avoid the security guard, so I was walking a little stealthily around the
corner when I heard a familiar voice coming just ahead.

It wasn’t
Cal, though.

It was
Jessie.

“That’s all
you’re getting, so don’t ask again. I’ve reached my limit with you, Cal. If you
insist on my paying you any more money, I’m just going to take my chances with
the police.”

“Do you
really want to do that, ma’am?” Cal asked her. I peeked back around the corner
and saw him tapping a fat envelope with his free hand. Wayne’s story was
panning out after all. Evidently, Cal was getting another payment, but Jessie
had clearly reached her limit. He added, “I saw you hit your fiancé just before
the man was murdered, and what’s more, you drew blood.”

“My nail
caught his cheek. It wasn’t a significant injury.”

“Maybe not
that time, but it proves that you have a fondness for violence, and I’ve got a
hunch that no matter how hard you scrub your hands, there’s going to be traces
of Gordon’s blood that won’t come out. But even if you manage to clean your fingertips
better than Lady Macbeth, you still left some evidence behind. I found your
torn fingernail on the ground and I bagged it. The funny thing is, there’s
blood on the tip of it. Do you really want to take your chances with the
police? I can be a pretty convincing witness, if it comes down to that.”

“You’re the
lowest kind of worm. You know that, don’t you?”

Cal didn’t
seem to take offense at her comment at all. He just smiled, and then he said,
“I’d be careful about what I said, if I were you.”

“You
know
that I didn’t kill Gordon,” Jessie
said. “I was in my room when someone murdered him.”

“Maybe you
were, but you don’t have any proof, do you?”

There was
silence for a moment, so I looked back around the corner. Jessie was standing
closer to Cal now, and the expression on her face had hardened somehow. “Don’t
push me,” she said with cold inflection. “If I
am
the one who killed Gordon, you’re playing a rather dangerous
game with a killer.”

“You don’t
scare me,” Gordon said, laughing.

“Then perhaps
you should readjust your definition of the things that frighten you,” she said.

“Jessie,
you’re looking at this the wrong way. I can be your best friend here, if you
don’t push me too hard.”

“What are you
talking about?” she asked.

“What would
you say if I told you that I
know
that you were in your room the entire time?”

“How could
you possibly know that, unless you were watching my room?” Jessie asked. It was
clear that she was unhappy to find that Cal might have been spying on her.

“As a matter
of fact, I was checking on something for another guest, and I had a reason to
linger in your hallway the entire time that Gordon could have been killed. With
one more payment, I’ll make sure the police believe me. Why shouldn’t they?
I’ll actually be telling the truth this time.”

“What are you
doing?” Moose asked loudly beside me, nearly scaring me out of my shoes. I’d
been so preoccupied with Cal and Jessie’s conversation that I’d completely
forgotten about my grandfather.

“Shhh,” I
said.

“Sorry,”
Moose said softly.

I peeked back
around the corner, but both of them were gone now.

“What did I
miss?” Moose asked me.

“Come on. We
might as well head back to the truck.”

“But I just
got here,” my grandfather protested.

“Sorry, but
we’re not going to get anything else out of Cal or Jessie right now. I’ll tell
you what I overheard on our walk back to the truck.”

“We’ve got
plenty of time to chat, then,” Moose said in frustration. “It’s more like a
mile away than a few hundred yards.”

I sincerely
doubted that, but there was no reason to contest it. “I just caught Cal
extorting one last payment out of Jessie. She told him that he wasn’t getting
any more cash, and he threatened her with going to the police.”

“With what?”
Moose asked. “Does he have actual evidence about the murder?”

“It surely
doesn’t sound as though he does. He did see Jessie and Gordon fighting soon
before the man was murdered, though. She slapped him, and evidently she drew
blood.”

“How much do
you want to bet he deserved it?” Moose asked.

“Whether he
did or not is beside the point. Cal claimed that it showed that Jessie was
violent with Gordon just before he died. I got something else interesting out
of the conversation, too.”

“What’s
that?” Moose asked as we continued our trek toward the tree line.

“Cal can alibi
Jessie legitimately. He was doing something sneaky for another guest, and he
happened to be in the hallway near Jessie’s room the entire time during which
Gordon was murdered. Can you believe he’s extorting the woman with the truth?
He can help her, but only if she continues to pay him.”

“So, he tries
to blackmail her with evidence of her fight with Gordon first, and when that
plays out, he offers to alibi her. Why didn’t he just lead with that, instead
of backing her into a corner about the fight they had?”

“Think about
it. If he could extort money without revealing any evidence of his own monkey
business, the hotel would never have to know why he was lingering in that
hallway.”

“I’ve
misjudged the man, and I’m not afraid to admit it,” Moose said. “I thought he
was back on the straight and narrow, but evidently he conned me, too.”

“Don’t feel
too bad about it. The man is a slick operator.”

“Maybe so,
but I hate to be played.”

“I understand
that, but why don’t we focus on what really matters? We can take two names off
our list of suspects; Jessie and Cal.”

“If Cal is
really telling the truth,” Moose said.

“He doesn’t
really have any choice in the matter, does he? Neither one of them could have
possibly known that I was eavesdropping on their conversation. I believe that
Cal was telling the truth when he said he could legitimately alibi Jessie for
the time of the murder, and by doing that, he’s alibied himself as well.”

“Yes, you’re
right. That’s what’s most important, striking suspects and finding the real killer.
It’s still a pretty substantial list, isn’t it?”

“There are
more names on it than I like in the course of an investigation,” I admitted. We
were just about to the break in the trees, and according to Moose, our journey
wasn’t even halfway over yet. “Shall we go over our list now, since we’ve got
more time to kill while we walk?”

“Why not?”
Moose asked. “Let’s see. The folks closest to Ellen go on the list, so that’s
Opal, Robert, and Wayne.”

“We can’t
forget Ellen herself,” I reminded her.

“She didn’t
do it,” Moose said emphatically.

“Show me the
proof, and I’ll do cartwheels in celebration,” I said. “Until we have a reason
to take her off our list, though, she’s got to stay. If nothing else, it’s only
fair to the others we’re suspicious of.”

“I suppose
you’ve got a point,” Moose said.

“Then who do
we have outside of Ellen and her circle?”

“I’d say that
Sam Jackson and Mitchell Cobb have to go on it as well,” Moose said.

“I understand
Sam, but Mitchell? Is he really all that viable a suspect?”

“Think about
it. He keeps popping up in our investigation on the outskirts. Is that a
coincidence, or does he have a reason to be so visible?”

“I don’t
know. I always thought he was a quiet guy who kept to himself,” I said.

“You’ve just
described what neighbors say about serial killers after they discover what
they’ve done,” Moose said.

“Point taken.
At least he doesn’t use his middle name. That seems to be a real clincher,
doesn’t it?”

Moose thought
about it, and then smiled. “You’re right. I can think of three serial killers,
and they all used their middle names. That’s odd.”

We were off
the subject. “Can we change the topic of our conversation? Serial killers give
me the creeps.”

“I’m with
you,” Moose said. “Is there anybody that we’re leaving out?”

I considered
other possibilities, and then I said, “No, I think that just about covers it.
If there was anyone else in town who wanted to see something bad happen to
Gordon Murphy, we haven’t heard about them. I’d say that our list was large
enough anyway, wouldn’t you? I’m not afraid to admit that I’ll be shattered if
the real killer’s identity comes from the top half of our list.”

“Yes, it
would be a great deal better if it turns out to be Sam or Mitchell. We can’t
count on that, though.”

“I know, but
I still don’t have to like it,” I said. “Hey, isn’t that your truck?”

“It is, but
the distance is a mere illusion. I must have walked half an hour coming to find
you, and we’ve only been at it ten minutes.”

“Time goes
faster when you’re having fun,” I told my grandfather. “Besides, talking has
helped pass the minutes, too.”

As we got
into the truck, Moose asked, “Do you have new ideas about how we should attack
our investigation from here? To be honest with you, I was kind of hoping we’d
be able to eliminate our friends before we started checking off the strangers
involved in the case.”

“I think we
have to speak with the folks around Ellen a little more intently. She’s
probably still at Opal’s or Robert’s, and if she’s not at either place, I’m
willing to bet that she’s with Wayne. There’s something odd about her parents.”

“What, the
fact they live across the street from one another?”

“There’s
that, but each one has implied that I should look at the other as a possible
killer. Doesn’t that strike you as unusual?”

“They’re both
trying to protect their daughter,” Moose said. “It’s not all that strange at
all.”

“If you say
so. That doesn’t mean that we can let up on them, though.”

“No, it
surely doesn’t. Let’s go see if we can crash a family reunion and accuse them
all of murder,” my grandfather said with a wry smile.

“I’m not
talking about doing anything that overt,” I said. “We just need to keep
questioning them.”

“Agreed,”
Moose said. “Let’s go see what the Hightowers have to say for themselves.”

I pulled out
my telephone and dialed the sheriff’s number, but it went straight to
voicemail. What I had to tell him wasn’t something that I could leave in a
message, so I told him to call me back when he could.

“Who did you
just call?” Moose asked.

“I tried to
phone the sheriff so I could tell him about Cal and Jessie, but he didn’t pick
up.”

“He must have
been doing important police business,” Moose said with a smile.

“He’s got his
investigation, and we’ve got ours,” I said.

“I just wish
that he’d be more forthcoming about
his
findings.”

“Moose, we
always knew that it wasn’t going to be a two-way street. The sheriff has a
completely different job description than we do.”

“Victoria,
are you actually taking up for the man?”

“No, but I
can still acknowledge that he’s got it a lot tougher than we do. We aren’t
restricted by any rules or regulations about the way we can look for evidence.”

“We don’t
have a police force at our disposal, either,” Moose said.

“Fair enough.
I’m just saying, he’s dropped a few hints to us in the past, and if we keep him
updated on what we’re up to, there’s a better chance that he won’t shut us
down. Admit it. You’d hate to sit idly by while a murderer goes free.”

“No more than
you would,” Moose said.

“I’m not
disagreeing with you,” I said. “I figure he’ll try to get in touch with me
later.”

“Knowing the
sheriff, I’m sure that you’ll hear from him before nightfall.”

“I hope that
he’s not at either of the Hightower residences,” I said. “It’s always awkward
when we show up to interrogate someone that he’s already talking to.”

Chapter 12

“Are we
interrupting anything?” I asked the Hightower family after they let us into
Opal’s place. To my surprise, Robert was there, as well as Ellen. We were in
luck; there wasn’t a police officer anywhere in sight when we showed up. “Where
are the kids?”

“They’re
sleeping over at a friend’s house,” Ellen said. “I thought it might be a little
too much to put them through all of this drama.”

“You must
miss them,” I said. I knew how devoted Ellen was to her children.

“Every minute
that we’re apart, but this is for the best. Mom made me realize that.”

Opal nodded
as she laid her latest knitting project down on the table. “Children need
stability in their lives. Can I get you something to eat?”