Perplexity on P1/2 (Parson's Cove Mysteries) (25 page)

     I went back to bed but I couldn’t sleep. The first thing I was going to do in the morning was contact Reg Smee. Also Ralph. I wondered how he would feel about knowing his beloved had been right here in Parson’s Cove. Personally, I was wondering ‘why?’

Chapter Thirty Three

     “I don’t think you had to get me out of bed at six, Mabel, no matter how important this information is.”

     Reg Smee sat across from me at my kitchen table.

     “Be happy it was this morning. I almost called you in the middle of the night.” I got up and refilled his cup of coffee. Reg muttered his thanks.

     “By the way, Reg, not that I want to hurt your feelings or anything but you look terrible. Are you sick or what?”

     Reg looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. His hair was standing on end and it looked like he’d slept in his clothes. Before saying anything, he gulped down about a quarter of his coffee. My coffee is scalding. I would’ve been begging for a fire extinguisher for my throat if I’d done that.

     “I’ll tell you, Mabel, I hope this investigation wraps up soon. I can’t stand working out of my car anymore.” He sighed and ran his hand through his thinning hair, making most of his remaining strands stand straight up. “Maybe if Maxymowich would keep me informed, it wouldn’t be so bad but this not knowing anything…”

     “I have an idea, Reg. Why don’t you and I work together? Maybe we could solve it and you could get your police station back, along with your new leather chair, and I could get my life back.”

     Reg stared at me for several seconds, then grinned. “Mabel, you say the damndest things. You and me, solve a murder? Are you serious? No, forget I said that; I know you’re serious.” He laughed, grunted, and said, “Hell, why not? At least, I’d feel like I was doing something. Who knows? Maybe we could find the killer.”

     “Of course, we can. You can’t use cuss words around me though.”

     “What cuss words? You know very well I don’t swear, Mabel.”

     “Okay.” I reached over and shook his hand. “Let’s get started.”

     “First,” he said, “what’s all this about the phone message? Let me hear it again. You said you recognized the voice?”

     I sat down. “Yes, it came to me in the middle of the night. This sometimes happens to me. I’m either dreaming or you know, kind of half awake and half asleep…”

     “Just a minute,” Reg interrupted. “I won’t cuss if you won’t ramble on about things. Now, who phoned you and does it have something to do with the murdered woman?”

     I leaned forward. “I don’t know but I think it might be significant. It was from Sally Goodrich. Remember? She was on the trip with me to Las Vegas. Now, if she’d phoned and said, ‘I’m in Parson’s Cove for the day, sorry I missed you,’ that wouldn’t have been too mysterious, but it was what she said and how she said it, that worries me.”

     “What did she say again?”

     I got up and took a paper out of my cupboard junk drawer.

     “Here it is. I copied it down as best as I could.”

     Reg read it aloud. 

     Sorry, I don’t have time to explain. Don’t want to make trouble for you. Just wanted some information. You could’ve helped. I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll see you again.

     “See what I mean, Reg? Why did she say she never meant to make trouble? I don’t think she made any trouble for anyone except Ralph and why would she think that involved me? But it’s the part about needing my help that worries me. What did she mean when she said she might never see me again?”

     “She probably thought she’d never be in Parson’s Cove again.”

     “Or, someone was threatening her life. She might be dead now. In fact, I think that’s exactly what she meant, Reg. She knew she didn’t have much time left.”

     “Okay, Mabel, let’s not start speculating too much. First, what about this Ralph character? I hear he was at your place. Why?”

     “Oh dear, I almost forgot about Ralph. I guess I’d better phone and tell him to come over and listen to the tape. He’ll know it’s Sally’s voice for sure.”

     “Phone him? You mean he’s close by?”

     “Of course. He stayed at Main Street Hotel last night. I’ll give him a call.” I looked up at the clock. “He’ll probably be up already.”

     Millie Clark answered. She’s Parson’s Cove’s answer to Minnie Pearl. The farthest south she’s ever been is Hazelnut Junction, which is a half hour drive at the most, going top speed. Somehow, she returned with a southern accent.

     “This here’s Main Street Hotel,” she said when she picked up. “How can I help y’all?”

     “Millie,” I said, “this here’s Mabel. I wonder if you can get Mr. Murphy for me. It’s quite important.”

     “Mr. Murphy? Are you pullin’ my leg, Mabel? Is this here some kinda joke?”

     “No. Why would you think I was joking?”

     “Cause, honey, there ain’t no Mr. Murphy here.”

     “One of your guests. He checked in last night. Probably, about 8:30.”

     “No, we ain’t got no Mr. Murphy here.”

     “You’re sure? Did you check the book?”

     “What book?”

     “Well, don’t you have a book that all your guests have to sign or something? I believe it’s called a register. Doesn’t everyone have to sign their name when they check in?”

     “Of course, they do. That’s why I know we ain’t got no Mr. Murphy. We didn’t have anyone check in last night at all. This here hotel is plumb empty.”

     I hung up and went over to fill our cups with coffee.

     “That’s strange, Reg. Ralph didn’t stay the night.” I shrugged. “Oh well, I guess he figured that there was no need. He was only interested in finding Sally and when I couldn’t help him, I guess he thought there was no point in hanging around.”

     “What did he tell you, Mabel?”

     “The strangest thing. Did you know that when we got to Denver, I was the only one who was supposed to change planes? But, Ralph tells me that everyone else got off too, except him. They were all supposed to be taking the same flight to Houston but the four never got back on. Of course, we now know why Grace didn’t get back on.”

     “So, where did he go?”

     “Well, I imagine he went home.”

     “Where’s that?”

     “You know, Reg, if I knew at one time, I’ve forgotten now. I mean, we did all get together when we first got to Vegas and each of us had to tell something about ourselves.

Offhand, I can’t remember where his home was. I should’ve asked him when he was here. I thought I’d be seeing him today anyway.”

     “Well, it’s probably not important.” He took his little black notepad out of his breast pocket and licked the end of his pencil. “Okay, so we know that four of them got off at Denver but only three got back on.” He started scribbling. When he’d finished, he looked

 up. “I’d say that means Andrea Williams aka Grace Hobbs was murdered during that time, right?”

     I nodded. “The only thing is, Reg, I’m sure Hatcher didn’t know about Andrea aka Grace. When we were in that house on P ½, I swear he was totally shocked to find out she was dead. So, that leaves Sally and Andrea.”

     “You think Sally killed Andrea or Andrea killed Andrea?”

     “You know what?” I said, “Let’s call the deceased Andrea, Grace. That’s how I knew her anyway. It’s hard to imagine that Sally would kill Andrea, I mean, Grace, but there is my phone call. Maybe she needed help because she’d killed Grace and didn’t know what to do.”

     “Why would Sally kill Grace? She would need a motive.”

     I shook my head. “I can’t see any reason at all. Besides, where would she get a gun? Unless, they got in a fight and Grace’s gun went off. I mean, I’m sure since Grace was a cop, she would have a gun. Plus, she was from Texas.”

     “That doesn’t make much sense, Mabel.” He sat with the tip of his pencil in his mouth. “How much do you know about this Ralph guy?”

     “Ralph? I know he’s nuts over Sally. I would say even to the point of stalking her. Also, he’s not all that healthy. If he doesn’t look after his sugar levels, he seems to faint.”

     “Faint? You mean, like a girl?”

     I nodded. “Yes, like a girl, Reg. You know what I would do? I’d find out which flight Hatcher, Andrea and Sally took.”

     He stood up. “We’ll feel stupid if Maxymowich already knows this, Mabel, but I’m going to go ahead anyway.”

     “Who cares if he knows? This is our own private investigation. Did you tell him about my call from Sally?” I asked.

     “Are you kidding? Trying to get in to see him is like trying to get through security at the airport. You know what that’s like. Besides, they’re more interested in breaking up a gambling ring than worrying about a murder. At least, that’s my opinion.”

     Reg left and I got ready for work. Flori phoned and said she’d bring some fresh cinnamon buns over to the shop for our coffee break. I never argue with that.

     It was a cold miserable day with on and off rain so there were very few customers. The weather governs people’s lives in Parson’s Cove. They smile when the sun shines and tend to spend money but they growl and hibernate when it doesn’t.

     It was past four in the afternoon when Reg finally walked into the store. I’d almost given up hope but he looked like he’d gotten a new lease on life. At least, the furrow between his eyebrows wasn’t quite as deep.

     “Mabel,” he said, after he’d looked around to make sure we were alone. “I found something very interesting out.” He brought out his little black notebook. “Ralph Murphy never stayed on that plane either. He was lying. The only ones who boarded for Houston were Hatcher, Andrea Williams, and Sally Goodrich and they were not on the flight they were supposed to be on either. ”

     “Really? How long were they in Denver then?”

     “Long enough for one of them to kill Grace but not long enough to dump the body in Parson’s Cove and get back in time.”

     “Unless, of course, they had someone do it for them. Don’t forget, Reg, we’re dealing with an organized crime group. I imagine they have ‘friends’ all over the country.”

     “You’re right and that would definitely remove whoever did it, as a suspect.”

     “Okay, so if Hatcher
didn’t
kill her, he would be really worried, wouldn’t he? When he was talking to that Mexican in Cecile’s house, he must’ve been almost out of his mind, wondering where the heck she was. After all, she’d disappeared with the money. Do you think they took a later flight because they couldn’t find Grace?”

     “That would depend if they were all together. I mean, Mabel, let’s face it, Hatcher could’ve been off by himself and the two women could’ve been together. Maybe they decided they wanted to tour around Denver so decided to take another flight.”

     “Tour Denver? After being in Las Vegas? I don’t think so. No, if Hatcher didn’t kill Grace that means, it had to be either Sally or Andrea.”

     “I thought you said it couldn’t be Sally because she wouldn’t have a motive.”

     “So, that leaves Andrea. However, she’s the one who made the phone call to Grace at Cecile’s house when I was there. Grace obviously gave her that phone number so must have wanted to keep in touch. Unless, it was for the other Grace…” I shook my head. My brain felt full of cobwebs. “This is just my gut feeling, Reg, but I’d swear that when she was standing with the gun pointed at me, she looked shocked to hear that Grace was dead. I don’t know but I’m beginning to think perhaps, I can’t rely on my intuition every time.”

     “Mabel, I
never
rely on your intuition.”

     “Thanks, Reg.”

     “Do you think Ralph knew about this money?”

     I shook my head. “I can’t see it. But, maybe he found out somehow. He was never around Andrea or Grace much. I don’t know, Reg, he’s such a klutz. You know what I mean? I would think the only reason he wouldn’t get on the plane would be if he thought Sally wasn’t getting on. That man has only one thing on his mind.”

     “What if he found out about the money and thought if he stole it, this Sally would be more interested?”

     “I suppose that could solve the lost money but it wouldn’t explain the murder. I think if Ralph saw blood, he’d probably faint.”

     “Okay, I guess our next move is to talk to this character and find out why he lied to you.”

     I nodded. “And, why he didn’t stay in Parson’s Cove and come back to see me like he said he would. He’s turning out to be quite the liar, isn’t he?”

     “I have a feeling he knows a lot more than he let on to you, Mabel. Any idea how I can track him down?”

     “I know he has a son going to college. He might know where his dad is. Seems to me the college wasn’t all that far from here either if I remember correctly. Let me think…” I closed my eyes and tried to dredge it back up. “Seems to me it started with an S. Sanford? Stanford? Something like that.”

     “The only college starting with an S that’s not too far from here is Stelling College and that’s about a five hour drive away.”

     “That could be it. I wish my memory were better. You could phone and check though. I don’t know his son’s first name but how many Murphy’s would there be there?”

     Reg put his notepad back into his pocket, slapped his cap back on and said, “I’ll get back to you. While I’m doing that, Mabel, why don’t you sit down and write up a little profile on each person on that trip?”

     “Why?”

     “Do I have to say, because I said so?”

     “Gottcha. I’m going to close up now so you can reach me at home.”  

     I locked the front door and walked home in the rain. During the last windy rainstorm we’d had, my umbrella decided to turn itself inside out, so I wrapped my old windbreaker around me and let the rain fall where it may. Two delinquent cats were sitting on my back step when I rounded the corner. They resembled two large smelly wet rats and their moods were as foul as the weather.

     “All right,” I said. “You don’t have to give me that look of disgust. I walked home in the rain and I’m wet too.” I opened the door a crack and they burst through. Neither one talked to me for the whole evening. Of course, when you have seven, it’s almost a blessing when a couple of them remain mute.