Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen (21 page)

“I don't need to know all your secrets,” he said. “Just a few of them.”

“My husband doesn't understand me,” she said.

“That's not a secret I need to hear.”

Fran leaned back on the couch and rested her left arm along the top. “You're not a bad-looking man, Sheriff. Has anyone ever told you that before?”

“Often,” Rhodes said.

His answer threw Fran a bit off her stride. “They have?”

“Not
they,
” Rhodes said. “It's usually my wife who tells me that.”

“Oh.” Fran frowned. “Your wife. We don't have to talk about her, do we?”

“No. I came here to talk about you and your husband.”

“Who doesn't understand me.”

“You mentioned that, but that's not the problem. The problem is Lynn Ashton.”

“She's not a problem.” Fran's frown changed to a smile. “Not now.”

“I take it you're not grieving over her passing,” Rhodes said.

Fran removed her arm from the back of the couch, curved the fingers of her left hand inward, and examined her nails. “Not a lot, no.”

“Would you like to tell me why?”

“You know why or you wouldn't be here. She was trying to steal my husband from me.”

“Just your husband? Or did she plan to steal something else?”

“Well,” Fran said, “him and his money. Cliff didn't think I knew about the money, but I did. Sometimes I wonder which one I'd miss the most.”

Rhodes had an opinion about that, but he didn't express it. He looked out at the patio, where there was a white table with a furled green umbrella protruding from the middle.

“Cat got your tongue, Sheriff?”

“I was just thinking,” Rhodes said.

“About me?”

“Sure enough, I was. Where were you the afternoon Lynn was killed?”

Fran gave her head a little toss. “Why, Sheriff. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was a suspect.”

“Don't feel special,” Rhodes said. “So is everybody else who knew Lynn.”

Fran didn't want to hear it. “I like feeling special.”

“You shouldn't,” Rhodes said. “Not in this case. Where were you?”

“You're mean, Sheriff, and I think you're trying to trick me. I don't know where I was for sure because I don't know when she was killed.”

“Let's say it was around six o'clock.”

“Then I was here, the faithful wife, preparing a delicious evening meal for her wayward hubby.”

“A sandwich?” Rhodes asked.

Fran laughed. It sounded forced. “You're a very funny man, Sheriff. Good-looking, too. My, my.” She fanned a hand in front of her face. “Is it hot in here, or is it just me?”

Rhodes was tired of the act.

“This isn't a scene from a bad movie, Ms. Clement,” he said. “This is about two murders that you're involved in whether you like it or not. You can't joke your way out of it. Now tell me where you were.”

Fran took a breath and looked down. When she looked back up, she said, “I'm sorry. I know it's not a joke. I was here, like I said.”

“Was anyone here with you?”

“You mean Cliff? The wayward hubby? I hardly see him in the evenings. He usually eats somewhere else, at the Dairy Queen for all I know. Then he runs around with his young floozies.”

“Saucy” and “floozies” both in the same day. Maybe the old words were coming back. If they were, Rhodes was behind the curve.

“Floozies?” he asked. “He had more than one?”

“I don't know. I didn't even know he had
one
for a good while. The wife is always the last one to know, they say. I only found out about the money because he forgot and left his checkbook here one day. So I looked at it.”

“You have separate accounts?”

She nodded. “Yes, but I didn't know that. This was a secret separate account.”

“It must have made you angry to find out about that.”

Fran flared up. “Of course it did. I was furious. I told him that if he didn't break it off with her and give me half the money in that account, I'd … I didn't know what I might do.”

She'd stopped herself just in time, but Rhodes had a pretty good idea of what she'd been about to say. Whether she said she'd kill Lynn or Clement was an open question, however.

“It would help if you could prove you were here when Lynn died,” he said.

“I watched
Wheel of Fortune
. Does that help?”

“Not a lot.”

“I can tell you what the final puzzle was.”

“DVR,” Rhodes said.

“What…? Oh. I see what you mean. Are you going to arrest me?”

“Not yet. I'm going to think about it.”

Fran cheered up at that. “You really are very attractive, you know.”

“Don't start that again,” Rhodes said. “It's just not going to work.”

“I'm not trying to flatter you,” Fran said. “I really mean it.”

Rhodes smiled. “That's good. I'll be sure to tell my wife you said so.”

*   *   *

Rhodes went back to the courthouse office. He needed a Dr Pepper, and he needed to think. A package of cheese crackers wouldn't hurt, either.

Rhodes knew that a lot of people who watched TV bought into the idea that crime-solving in the twenty-first century was purely scientific. Forensic wonders abounded. A drop of blood, a single hair, a particle of dust, a partial print, or a fingernail paring was all that was necessary for the modern crime-buster to bring a culprit to justice.

It didn't work like that in Blacklin County. It probably didn't work like that anywhere.

What worked for Rhodes was talking, asking questions, and weighing answers. Sometimes he even found a clue.

Not this time, however. He bought a Dr Pepper from the machine and got some of the yellow crackers with peanut butter because the machine didn't have the ones with cheese. He went up to his office and thought things over while he snacked.

What he came up with was a number of possibilities, starting with the simple fact that Lynn Ashton had been killed. Then Jeff Tyler had been shot. Lynn's purse was in the trash bin behind Jeff's store.

How it had gotten there? And why was it there? Rhodes came up with an answer that hadn't occurred to him before. What if Jeff Tyler had killed Lynn, taken her purse, and buried it in his trash, knowing that Frankie and his friends would come along, find it, and remove it? If they were caught with it, they'd be under considerable suspicion. Tyler might have intended to turn them in, but the killer had stopped him.

Another possibility was that someone who found out what Tyler had done got revenge for Lynn's death by killing Tyler. Maybe that person had even been the one to put the purse in the trash.

If that was the sequence of events, Lonnie was the one Rhodes liked for Tyler's death. Lonnie had shown a temper, and Tyler might have panicked and confided in him.

Rhodes saw a big problem with that version of events, however, and the problem was motive. Tyler didn't have one as far as Rhodes knew. Maybe more digging would reveal one.

Or not.

Fran Clement was another good candidate, at least for Lynn's death. Say that Tyler had been sitting out in front of his store and had seen Fran's SUV at the Beauty Shack. The Lexus was a hard vehicle to miss. The fact that Jorge had said there was no car there didn't really mean much. He'd also said he hadn't been keeping watch and wouldn't have known.

If Tyler had seen Fran, it might have been his turn to try a little blackmail, but instead of paying him, Fran had shot him. Or Clifford had. That would mean that Rhodes had two killers to bring in.

Or maybe something else entirely was at work. Sharon Lawless had a good alibi, but what about Randy? Abby and Eric weren't in the clear yet, either, even though Rhodes had liked them and couldn't believe they'd killed Lynn or Tyler. Still, something had been said that nagged at him. He couldn't quite remember what it was, however. He wasn't worried about that. It would come to him.

Something else that Rhodes still wasn't clear about was the connection that Clement had with the reclamation center, and that was something he'd like to find out. Clement claimed not to know anything about the day-to-day workings of the place, but Rhodes didn't quite believe him. Surely he must know Al, even though he said he didn't.

Rhodes had Jennifer Loam's cell number, so he called her from the phone on his desk. He hoped she'd use that number rather than his own cell number the next time she called.

She answered on the third ring, and Rhodes asked if she had any new information for him.

“A little,” she said. “I was just about to call you. This is going to be a great story for me to start my new online news with.”

“What did you find out?” Rhodes asked.

“It's not so much what I found out. It's what I saw.”

Rhodes wondered if everybody in the county had been taking lessons from Hack and Lawton. It wasn't the first time that this had occurred to him.

“What did you see?” he asked.

“I decided that I should have a look at the center, so I drove by there. You remember that you told me it was closed?”

“I remember.”

“Well, it wasn't when I went by.”

“When was that?”

“About an hour ago.”

Rhodes would have been leaving the Clement house about that time. It was getting awfully late in the afternoon for the center to be open.

“I thought it would be a good idea to see who was there,” Jennifer continued. “So I stopped and went into the office. The person in charge wasn't the one you called Al. It was a man called Mike. I told him I was doing a story for the paper on the environment and that I'd like to know about the center and all the good things it did. He was glad to tell me all about it. He even showed me around.”

Rhodes could imagine Mike's delight at a reporter being there. Then he remembered that Jennifer wasn't just a reporter. She was also an attractive young woman. Rhodes suspected that Jennifer might have used some floozy wiles to get him to talk to her.

“What did you see?” he asked.

“A bunch of junk,” Jennifer said. “I learned all about wearing gloves and safety glasses to handle batteries. I always thought people just threw them away.”

“Not anymore,” Rhodes said. “They're worth a little money to recyclers. People can even sell old ones that other people have thrown away.” Which was another reason for Frankie, Guillermo, and Jorge to be checking out the alleys, he thought. “Surely that's not all you found out.”

“No. While Mike was showing me around, I saw some men going into the office. There were four of them. I've never seen those four you arrested, but I'll bet they were the ones. Do you think they're running a theft ring there?”

“I don't know,” Rhodes said, “but I think I'll try to find out.”

Chapter 21

Rhodes met Buddy at the Beauty Shack parking lot.

“Hack said you needed some help,” Buddy said. “What's going down?”

“I don't know for sure,” Rhodes told him, “but I need some backup at the reclamation center.”

Buddy paled. “Is this about the rats?”

“Just the human ones,” Rhodes said.

“Oh. Good. I can handle those. I can handle the other kind, too. It's just that…”

“I know what you mean,” Rhodes said. “Let's get up there and see what's going on before they close the place for the day.”

When they got to the center, Rhodes drove through the open gate. Buddy drove in right behind him. They parked in front of the office and went inside.

The man called Mike was at a desk, looking over some papers. He might have been Al's brother, or at least a close cousin, though maybe just a little bigger.

Rhodes and Buddy waited until he looked up.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Did you and Al study elocution together?” Rhodes asked.

The big word threw Mike. “Huh?”

“We're looking for Al,” Rhodes said. “Also Guillermo, Frankie, and Jorge.”

“Who?”

Rhodes repeated the names.

“Never heard of 'em,” Mike said.

“You must've heard of Al. He works here.”

“Not anymore, he don't. Had to let him go.”

“Okay. Have you heard from Clifford Clement today?”

“Who?”

“You must've been taking owl lessons,” Buddy said.

“Huh?”

Rhodes looked at Buddy. “It was over his head.”

“You makin' fun of me?”

“Not us,” Rhodes said. “You're the one who's having a good time, telling us you don't know Al, who's probably right there in the other room, along with the other fellas I mentioned.”

“I'll have a look,” Buddy said.

Mike moved from behind the desk and stood between Buddy and the door to the back room of the office.

“You can't go in there,” Mike said. “It's not allowed.”

“Sure it is,” Rhodes said. “I have a search warrant.”

“Then lemme see it,” Mike said.

“It's in the car.”

Mike crossed his arms. “Nobody's going in until I see the warrant.”

Rhodes shrugged. “Wait here,” he said to Buddy and went out to get the warrant.

As he reached out to open the car door, he realized he'd made a mistake. He pulled back his hand and ran around the office building just in time to see four men leaving by the back door.

“Hold it,” he said.

They didn't hold it. All four started to run.

Rhodes felt tired. Dealing with those four was like training for the Olympic track team. As much as he hated it, there was nothing to do but to go after them. So he did.

They ran single file between heaps of junk with Jorge in the lead. He made an abrupt right turn, and Rhodes thought he was heading toward the building where he'd had the encounter with the bucket, but Jorge made another turn, dodged between a couple of rusty tractors, and disappeared behind a mountain of used tires. Guillermo and Frankie followed him.