Murder at the High School Reunion (11 page)

“How do I know? I didn’t kill them.”

“Maybe someone who makes an excuse to smoke a
cigarette waited until you’d left and then ran into Conkwright and Mrs. Spencer
and whacked them to death.”

“Didn’t nobody do no whacking. At least none of my
friends.”

“This time I believe you, because neither of the
victims was whacked to death, but someone did murder them, and it was someone
at the school who did it. Only four of you left the cafeteria.”

“That’s not true. Almost everyone left at some point.
Maybe someone who left to go to the restroom did it. Or what about the janitor
and his friend? They could have done it anytime.”

“Do you figure they did it together?”

“Could be. How would I know? Or what’s to keep someone
from outside the school, someone who didn’t attend the reunion, from sneaking
in and murdering them.”

“You mean someone who just happened to be in the
neighborhood and looked up and said, ‘There are two people who need to be
murdered. Why don’t I go do it?’”

“No, but someone could have driven by when Jimmy and
Duck’s wife were outside at his car, recognized Jimmy from way back, saw that
he was drunk, and decided to get even for some old grudge.”

“You see someone driving down the road?”

“You act like it couldn’t happen.”

“Well, it does seem a little farfetched. They would
have to have great vision in the dark to recognize Jimmy Conkwright.”

“Not if he was at his car. He always drove some kind
of red Corvette. I don’t know anyone else around here who’s ever had one. It
could’ve caused someone to slow down, spot Jimmy, and then kill him. Of course,
they would have to kill Duck’s wife too, so she wouldn’t tell on them. And by
the way, it wasn’t all that dark when we threw them out.”

“So how do you know they were ever at Jimmy’s car?”

“I don’t. But they went somewhere. And I don’t think
Jimmy had any liquor on him when he came in the first time. I think he had it
all planned. He would either lure some old high school flame away, or he’d
bring it in later.”

“But Conkwright and Mrs. Spencer came back in after
they were at the car, if the car was where they went to get something to
drink.”

“And they could’ve gone back out to the car.”

“And maybe they stayed in the school.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, but I know their bodies weren’t found near the
car.”

I’d been careful not to tell anyone where we found the
bodies, in case someone might let something slip. So far, no one had. Then, I
remembered I did let it slip once.

“Mr. Justice, tell me about your phone call to Duck
Spencer.”

“Not much to tell. Duck and I are pretty good friends.
I knew he wouldn’t like his wife running around with Jimmy Conkwright, so I
called him to let him know what was going on.”

“And when was this?”

“I can’t remember if I called him after they left
together the first time or the second time. I just remember I called him, let
him know what was going on. He told me to try to get his wife away from Jimmy.
I told him I didn’t think I could. Then he told me he’d be there as soon as he
could. It took him longer than he thought it would. Turns out that storm we had
earlier knocked down a tree across his road, and he had to run down the road to
get the old janitor to bring him in his boat. He called me back after he ran
into the tree, told me to hold the fort, and he’d get there as soon as he
could. That was when he told me he was going to check with old man Spickard,
see if he could bring him in his boat.”

I’d talked to several people. None of them mentioned
anything about anyone’s phone ringing. Either no one heard it, no one
remembered it, or no one thought it was important.

“And did you leave the cafeteria again when Spencer
called you back?”

“I wasn’t in the cafeteria when he called. I was out
trying to find Duck’s wife. Actually, I was on my way back to the cafeteria.
I’d decided to wait until Duck got there.”

“So, you’d gone out by yourself to look for them?”

“No. No. No. Billy Korlein and I were together. Jim
Bob Gibbons had been with us, but he went off on his own.”

“And this was after Jimmy and Betty Gail were drinking
and had left.”

“I’m not sure. I think it was before. It might have
been when they were out at Jimmy’s car drinking. That might have been the
reason we didn’t find them the first time.”

“And what might be the reason you didn’t find them the
second time?”

“Maybe they were already dead. You seem to know more
about this than I do. Where did you find them, anyway? Maybe I can tell you if
I saw anyone anywhere near the place.”

“I think I’ll save that little bit of information for
later.”

“Suit yourself. I’m just trying to help. Anyway, I
know it had to be outside someplace.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Well, I don’t for sure. But when the four of us first
went to look for them, after they came back in drunk and we threw Jimmy out, we
walked down the hall together, then one of us came up with the idea of looking
on both floors at once. So, me and Duck took the downstairs floor and Jim Bob
and Billy took the upstairs. They climbed the steps and looked down the hall.
They didn’t see anybody. We hollered that we didn’t anybody, either.”

“Did you check all the rooms?”

“They did upstairs. One of them walked down the right
side, the other one the left, and they tried every door. All of them were locked.
Downstairs there’s not as many locked doors. Only the principal’s office and
the counselor’s office. Both of those doors were locked.”

“Did you look in the gym and the kitchen?”

“We did. I took the gym, Duck the kitchen. It took me
longer ’cause the gym is a larger place. I had to go up on the stage and check
behind the curtain. First of all, I had to find the light switch. After I found
it, I realized there wasn’t anyone in there, anywhere. When I walked out, Duck
was coming out of the kitchen. He told me they weren’t in there, either. That
means they had to be outside someplace. We looked out there, too, but of course
it’s a lot bigger area out there. I suspect you found them down by the river
somewhere. Is that where you found them, Lieutenant?”

“I can’t say.”

“I knew that’s where they were. Had to be. There
wasn’t anywhere else. And if that’s the case, it means it could have been
anybody who did it. Probably somebody drunk out on the river.”

We sat there silently for a few minutes, and then
Justice spoke.

“Lieutenant, I’ve been sitting here listening to
everything you’ve said, but there’s something that puzzles me. Can I ask you a
question?”

“You may, but I’m not sure I’m allowed to answer it.”

“How does Jennifer Garner fit into all this?”

Before I could open my mouth, his wife said, “Jennifer
Garner? The Jennifer Garner?”

“Yeah, Billy said the lieutenant asked him about
Jennifer Garner. But then, what man isn’t interested in Jennifer Garner?
There’d have to be something wrong with him if he wasn’t.”

+++

Again Lou waited until we were safely ensconced in
Lightning before he opened his mouth.

“Cy, can I go home with you?”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Well, I don’t have a computer, and it looks like
going to your house is the only way I’m going to find out who Jennifer Garner
is.”

“Lou, you could care less who she is. You just want to
know what the babe looks like.”

“Well, I do have room for a poster on my bedroom
wall.”

“You mean you don’t have a picture of Heather there?”

“Nope. Betty Lou, either.”

“Cy, do you have a picture of your next-door neighbor
on your wall?”

“I used to until I woke up in the middle of the night,
saw the picture, and it almost frightened me to death. At least, while the
picture was there, I didn’t have any problem with rats. Now, bats, that’s
another story.”

We shared a laugh and then Lightning lurched forward.

+++

It was late when Lou and I left our last suspects of
the day. My stomach had been growling for quite some time. We’d eaten our snack
and cleaned up on the way to the Justices, and it was past my supper time. In
years past, I would have taken out a Hershey Almond candy bar, my staple food,
and munched on it, one almond and surrounding candy at a time. But I was trying
to turn over a new leaf. I thought I was off the hook with Doc when I went back
and met his weight goal, but he wasn’t sure I had conformed, and actually I
wasn’t sure, either. When Doc told me I had to continue to lose at least two
pounds a month to stay on the force, I knew I had to keep up with my newfound
regimen. Sometimes, that would be tough.

Both Lou and I were tired, so we refrained from
talking about the case or Jennifer Garner and made plans for the next day.

“Lou, I’ll probably be a little late in the morning.”

“Oh? Exercising a little more or sleeping a little
later?”

“Neither. I need to call Sam and see what he can find
out about these people. Then, I want to Google Jennifer Garner to see if I can
find out what today’s clue means.”

“Did you say Google or ogle?”

“Maybe both. It depends on what she looks like.
Anyway, I want to see if I can find something on the computer that will tell me
what our clue means. And of course, I plan to exercise, fix breakfast, and read
my daily devotionals before I come, so I expect I’ll be a few minutes later
than usual. I’ll call you before I leave the house. So far, all I have planned
for tomorrow is for us to go where Betty Gail Spencer worked and see what they
can tell us about her and her relationship with her husband. Also, I want to
check to see if Mrs. Edwards is still around. If so, I want to see her and try
to get her to tell us what she can about that girl that died in the wreck
twenty years ago. So far, it looks like someone’s motive either has something
to do with that wreck, or something that happened at the reunion. I’m leaning
toward the latter, since I don’t think this thing was premeditated, but then I
want to see if anyone knew that Jimmy Conkwright was coming to the reunion.”

“I would think that Rose Ellen Calvert knew, since she
took care of the reservations.”

“I think we’ll end up seeing most or all of our
suspects again, as we learn more, but probably not until after we hear from
Sam.”

I dropped Lou at his place and then rushed home to fix
myself some supper. I wasn’t in any mood to cook, so I opened the refrigerator
and took out some shrimp and cocktail sauce to make myself a shrimp cocktail.
The shrimp weren’t large, and according to the container, I could eat ten of
them. I could’ve eaten twenty of them, but I wasn’t going to revert back to the
old Cy. Not yet, anyway. I had a tray full of carrot sticks, celery stalks,
sliced green and red peppers, and some cherry tomatoes. I filled my plate with
them, and added four olives to my display. As soon as I poured a glass of
water, I was ready to eat. I knew I was too tired to Wii, but that was okay. I
would make up for it the next day.

Curiosity had the best of me, however, so I went to
the computer and Googled Jennifer Garner. I could see how Korlein and Justice
were enamored with her. I didn’t know a woman could look so good. The next
morning I planned to find out more about her. But then, the next morning was
still several hours away. It was time to go to bed. And dream about Jennifer
Garner, and any other beautiful women who might be future clues. On the way to
get ready for bed, with my thoughts still fixed on Jennifer Garner, I realized
that sometime, somewhere, she too went to high school. I wondered if she was a
cheerleader, the prom queen, and whatever else she wanted to be, and how many
of the guys hit on her. I thought back to my days at Hilldale High. We had some
nice-looking girls there too, but I don’t think any of them became famous.

I woke up the next morning feeling better than I did
the night before. I sat up, remembered what I had planned for the day. I didn’t
know how long it would take to talk to the people where Betty Gail Spencer
worked, plus see Mrs. Edwards. I picked up the phone book. Mrs. Edwards was
still listed, and at the same address. I figured she’d be up in age by now, and
would be home during the day. I would soon find out.

In the past, I stumbled to the shower to wake up. That
was before I started exercising. I had no idea if the Wii Fit would make me
sweat in January, but it sure did in July. Also, I’d heard that a body should
eat something before exercising, so I took a few minutes to read my daily
devotionals, and then headed to the kitchen.

I’d settled in on oatmeal, bacon, and scrambled eggs
most days. On occasion, I fixed an omelet, but omelets take longer than
scrambling eggs, and I wanted to leave as much time as possible for working on
the case. Once I ate, I dashed to the computer. Jennifer Garner was waiting for
me. The night before I’d clicked on long enough to see what Garner looked like.
I now knew that my blind date was worth every click I could muster.

I sat down in front of the computer, eager to give
Garner my full attention. Besides, I needed to allow my food ample time to
settle before I Wiied. I learned a little about her and looked at all the
things the actress had appeared in. Four of them stood out;
Alias, The
Invention of Lying, Catch Me If You Can,
and
The Pretender.
I didn’t
know whether this was important or not, but she was married to some guy named
Ben Affleck. I wasn’t sure if he too is an actor, or if his family is the one
that owns the insurance company that uses the duck in its advertising. See, I
don’t watch TV, and I haven’t been to the movies in years. I don’t watch sports
either, so I’m clueless when it comes to entertainment.

I sat there mulling over my possibilities. Was God
trying to tell us something which had something to do with one of those four
movies or TV shows in which Garner appeared? Alias was easy enough to
understand. That meant that one of our suspects was not who he or she said they
were. If that was the case, that made it easy. All of them knew each other
except for the current custodian. It would have to be him. I planned to have
Sam check on him. Oops, I’d gotten so involved in looking at Garner that I
almost forgot to call Sam. I’d make sure I did that before I left.

It was time to move on. Obviously someone had lied to
me. Maybe a whole lot of someones. Which meant that several of them were in
cahoots or they were protecting themselves or others for some reason other than
murder. If the first turned out to be the case, my guess would be some or all
of the guys who were at the reunion. At least three of them seemed to be close
knit.

“Catch Me If You Can” told me that someone had been
playing games with me. While I’d had that happen before, I hadn’t run into
anything on this case that indicated that. “The Pretender” meant that someone
was pretending to be someone whom they were not, or pretending that something
happened that didn’t happen. This sounded more in line with the “Alias”
suggestion. I decided not to take any more time thinking about them at the
time, so I wrote them down, so I could see what Lou thought of our
possibilities. I’d spent enough time with Jennifer Garner. It was time to make myself
look more appealing in case I ever ran into her.

After the first few days, I had no trouble doing the
aerobic exercises on the Wii. Well, I had no trouble doing the Step exercise,
even the Advanced Step. But hula hooping and running were a different story. If
I attempted to do either of them, I would huff and puff for a minute or so
after I quit. And that was if I merely attempted to do them one time. There was
no way I was in shape to repeat either of them. The strength exercises were
even worse. I still didn’t attempt any exercise where I had to get down on the
floor. Instead, to get myself in shape, I practiced falling toward and pushing
myself away from a wall. I hoped that would help make my arms strong enough to
support my body. I was told I needed to rotate between strength and aerobic
exercises, but where was I to get the strength to do the strength exercises?

+++

After I’d run so much hot water over my aching muscles
that the water was no longer hot, and I had stumbled from the shower and managed
to dress myself, I went to the phone to call Sam Schumann. Each time Lou and I
worked on another murder investigation I called Sam to do any legwork that I
didn’t have time to do myself. Sam was the best at what he did, and while I
wouldn’t want him to know it, he’d been quite helpful to Lou and me over the
years.

“This is Sam I Am dining on green eggs and ham. I’m
Sam the Man, the cop who assists all other cops from A to C, and from E to Z.”

“Very funny, Sam. Well, I’m one of the cops from A to
C, as in Cy.”

“I thought you were one of the cops from D to D, as in
Dekker, as in the one letter of the alphabet I don’t have time to help.”

“Sam, if you don’t cooperate over the phone, I’ll just
come over there.”

“Won’t do you any good. I’ve already eaten. Some of us
have been up for hours.”

“Some of the rest of us have, too.”

“Is there a barking dog in your neighborhood, or did
your conscience got the best of you? Huh, Cy?”

“Listen, Sam, it’s time for you to go back to work.
I’ve got some people I want you to check on.”

“When I heard that a couple of bodies were found the
other day, I put paper beside the phone. I knew you’d be calling, so, shoot,
just as long as you have only a couple of suspects.”

“Well, some of my suspects are couples, but I’ll start
with a couple of the single ones. See what you can find out about Walter
Gillis. He’s the custodian at the county high school. He hasn’t been here long,
and I don’t think he knew either of the victims, but check him out, anyway. See
where he came here from, and why he came here. See if he knew either of the
victims, or if he knew anyone in Hilldale before he moved here. Also, see what
you can find out about the retired custodian, Earl Spickard. He’s been here a
long time. He doesn’t seem to have been able to have done in the victims,
either, but check him out nonetheless.”

“I’ll do that. Bye, Cy.”

“I’ll ‘bye, Cy,’ you! Keep writing! Next check out
Rose Ellen Calvert. She works at the library. She was in charge of the reunion.
If possible, I want to know if she knew that Jimmy Conkwright was coming to the
reunion. See what you can find out about her. She went to school with the
victims.”

I continued reciting names until I’d given Sam the
names of all the people I had questioned so far.

“Now, what were those names you gave me after the
custodian? My pen ran out of ink and I couldn’t write the rest of the names
down.”

“Very funny, Sam. One other thing. Supposedly,
Conk-wright still had a lot of his dad’s money. See if you can find out how
much he had, and who inherits. I guess that’s it for now. And no hurry on this.
Noon will be fine.”

“Cy, I promise you I’ll have everything by noon. I can’t make any promises as to which day. One question. Do you want me to feed you
this a little at a time, or all at once?”

“How long do you think it will take you to come up
with all of it?”

“Oh, probably two or three days.”

“You can just wait. We still have people to question,
and then Lou and I will mull over what we know so far.”

“Mull over. Is that another way of saying you’ll hang
out at your house, order good fattening food, and eat it in front of Lou who
doesn’t eat that stuff anymore?”

“Well, I do mull better at home, Sam. Oh, one other
thing. I’m curious about something. Do you know who Jennifer Garner is?”

“Do I know who she is? I have all the DVDs from that
TV show. I’m still upset they canceled it.”

“What about movies? Have you seen any of her movies?”

“Every one of them.”

“What if it’s a bad movie?”

“If she’s in it, it’s not a bad movie. Listen, Cy,
does she have something to do with this case? If so, I’m your leg man.”

“She’s only involved indirectly.”

“Cy, you know she’s married to Ben Affleck, don’t
you?”

“I’d heard that. What do you think of him?”

“Oh, some of his movies are good, but she’s much
easier on the eyes. Back to his wife, when she gets involved directly, let me
know. Also, another Jennifer that I’d be happy to help out with, Jennifer
Aniston. She floats my boat, too.”

I wish he had used a different description. My
thoughts immediately went back to my rowboat experience, but I did think
another excursion would be better if I had a woman with me. Unless that woman
was my next-door neighbor, but then I never think of her as a woman.

Sam and I continued our folderol until I realized that
I had places to go, people to locate. We hung up, and I rushed to use the
information I’d gotten from Sam. I Googled Jennifer Anniston. I misspelled her
last name, but Google knew who I wanted. A few seconds later I realized that I
haven’t been watching enough movies and TV shows. I wondered what other
beautiful creatures I’ve missed out on. When I have more time, I plan to call
Sam back and ask him. Well, after I’ve gotten tired of my two Jennifers.