Take a Dive for Murder (18 page)

Charles grabbed his mother and pulled her to the floor. Carrie, in turn, pulled Christopher from his chair on top of her.

“Everyone, stay down!” shouted Charles.

He crawled across the floor and turned off the lamp. Carrie reached up and pulled the table candles to her and extinguished them. At that moment, Mary came to the door. “What’s happening? I heard glass breaking.”

“Mary, don’t come in! Suzanne’s been shot. Get to the phone in the hall and call the police and
get an ambulance.” In the remaining light from the fireplace, they could all see Suzanne lying on the floor in a pool of blood. She wasn’t moving.

Charles crawled over to Suzanne and hunched over her. Carrie saw her hand move slightly. Then Charles leaned close to her face, and Carrie could see Suzanne’s lips moving. Charles took her hand and held it as she struggled to whisper something to him.

“Suzanne, save your strength. Don’t try to talk. We have help coming,” Charles responded.

It seemed that Charles had barely finished speaking
when they heard the sounds of sirens coming up the street. The first police car arrived, and when the officers realized it was a shooting, they immediately called for backup and the crime team. The ambulance arrived, and the medics worked quickly, attaching medical devices to Suzanne and getting her bundled onto a stretcher. Everyone knew Suzanne’s only chance of survival was getting her to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Captain Becker arrived as Suzanne’s stretcher was passing through the front door. He watched as the medics maneuvered
the stretcher down the walk toward the waiting ambulance. As the ambulance departed with sirens blaring, he entered the house and took charge of the investigation by immediately snapping out orders. One of his first orders was to send officers outside the home to search the area for any evidence left by the shooter.

Before the officers left the house, Christopher
piped in, “Be sure to search on the other side of the hedges at the back of the garage. You can enter the property that way and not be seen.” Christopher knew from the night of the fire this was the preferred entry for the bad guys.

After Christopher’s suggestion, Becker ushered
or more accurately pushed the family and staff into the living room, away from the police investigation. They could see flashes of light from the study as a police photographer took camera shots of the scene. Carrie wished she had the opportunity to photograph the room before the police came. Instead they had to rely on their memories for the details of what just happened.

As they sat quietly together, Carrie looked across at Mrs. Faraday and realized she was very pale. She gave Charles a gentle nudge and nodded toward his mother. He immediately saw the ashen color of her face.

“Mother, I think you need to go up to your room and rest. If the police need a statement, they can talk to you in the morning. Christopher, would you call Dr. Nilson? Since he lives on the next block, maybe he would be willing to come over to the house and check your grandmother. Mrs. Cavanaugh, can you help me?”

“Yes, yes, of course, Mr. Charles.”

Charles and Mrs. Cavanaugh guided Mrs. Faraday from her seat and toward the hallway. The policeman at the door asked them to wait while he got permission from Captain Becker for them to leave. Carrie saw that once the officer left his post, Charles didn’t wait. Instead, the trio proceeded from the room and directly to the elevator.

The policeman returned and directed his question to Carrie. “Where did they go?”

“They took Mrs. Faraday upstairs to her room,” answered Carrie.

“They should have waited for the official okay, even though the captain said it was fine.” He looked around the room. “Where’s the
kid? Did he go upstairs, too?”

“No, he’s over there in the corner.” Carrie pointed to Christopher, who was just hanging up the phone. “He’s calling the doctor for Mrs. Faraday. Officer, could you do us one more favor and let the officer at the front door know to allow Mrs. Faraday’s doctor access when he arrives?”

The officer nodded and left the room again. This time he closed the living room door tightly, eliminating the opportunity for them to watch the police activities.

“I hate just sitting here. Do you think the
police would mind if I went to the kitchen and finished my work?” Mary asked.

“You’ll need to ask the officer on duty, Mary. However, if I were you,
I’d ask the officer if it was all right if you went to the kitchen to make coffee for everyone.”

Mary nodded her head, smiling. She left the room and
didn’t return, so Carrie assumed her approach worked.

Christopher was now sitting next to Carrie. He took a deep breath and asked, “Do you think Grandmother is all right? You know
I’ve only one grandmother. I don’t want to lose her now that I have time to spend with her.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine
,” Carrie said trying to sound positive. “We have to remember that your grandmother is older, and all these events have been very stressful for her. We have to protect her from any more shocks and make sure she gets plenty of rest.”

Christopher nodded in agreement, but seemed lost in his own thoughts.

“You know what we should do while we are sitting here?” Christopher didn’t respond, but Carrie continued. “Let’s review what happened. One way to help your grandmother is to solve this crime. So, tell me, what did you see? Any impressions of Suzanne or what she said?”

Christopher looked up and then said seriously, “I thought witnesses to a crime weren’t supposed to
talk to each other.”

“You do know your crime scene procedures. On the other hand, when have you and I done anything we are supposed to do?”

It was the right thing to say because Christopher giggled. “Yeah, that’s how we keep coming up with clues. We don’t pay attention to the rules.”

“
You go first. What did you see?”

“
Well, Suzanne was very sure of herself until you brought up the phone call. Then she started to fall apart. Hey, that reminds me. You never mentioned that phone call to me. Did you make that stuff up?”

“No, it was a real call. I picked it up by accident in those few minutes before I came down to dinner. That’s why I didn’t get a chance to tell you about it.”

“That was neat the way you kept pushing her. If she hadn’t been shot, I think she would have spilled her guts.”

“I think she got scared when your Uncle Charles told her she could be charged as an accessory. I think, until tonight, she really believed your father’s death was accidental. When it appeared it might not be…well, she wanted out. Did you notice anything else?”

“I think that’s all.” Christopher closed his eyes, as if he was trying to remember. “Wait a minute… I did notice something else. When she was standing by the fireplace, she kept playing with a tissue, and then I saw her stuff it in that little flower vase on the mantel.”

“I noticed that
, too. Maybe she was just nervous.”

“From where I was sitting, it looked like Suzanne was stuffing the tissue in the vase
on purpose,” added Christopher.

“I was concentrating on pushing her verbally, but now that I think about it, you’re right. Do you think she was hiding something in the vase?”

“It would have to be something very small. I mean, that vase is tiny,” Christopher reflected.

“What was hidden?” Charles asked as he returned to the room.

Both Carrie and Christopher asked simultaneously about Mrs. Faraday’s condition.

“She’s a little weak.
The doctor is here now and is giving her something to help her relax and sleep. He seems to think it was the shock of the shooting that affected her and nothing more serious. Dr. Nilson assures me that, with some rest, she’ll be fine. Mrs. Cavanaugh is going to stay with her.”

Carrie could see Christopher’s shoulders relax as he heard the positive news about his grandmother.

“You two were talking about Suzanne’s fascination with that small vase on the mantle?”

“You saw it
, too?” Carrie asked.

“Something else I noticed was the timing of the gunshot,” Charles added. “Suzanne could have been shot at any time. However, the moment she agrees to tell us what she knows, she’s struck down. It’s like the shooter knew what she was saying.”

“Of course…that’s it!” Carrie said excitedly. “I bet if the police check that vase, they are going to discover some sort of a listening device. That would explain how the shooter knew the exact moment when Suzanne was about to betray him.”

“I think you’re right, but a listening device would have to have a home base,” Charles said. “Somewhere nearby, maybe a vehicle.”

“I bet it was parked on the street behind us on the other side of the hedges. Remember, I told the police to check there,” Christopher reminded them.

“That you did. Look, I’m going to see if I can talk to Becker. I’ll tell him about the vase, and I’ll also see if I can get an update.” Charles opened the door of the room, said something to the officer in the hall, and then closed the door behind him.

Christopher and Carrie had little opportunity to discuss more details about the shooting before Charles was back.

“How did it go?” asked Christopher.

“Becker really is a pompous…” Charles looked at Christopher and changed his answer to, “Let’s just say he has a big ego. When I told him about the possibility of a ‘bug’ in the vase, he acted like he already knew. However, when he went to the fireplace, he picked up the wrong vase, and I had to redirect him to the right one.”

“Was there a listening device in it?” asked Carrie.

“Sure was. It was really tucked in there. Becker had to borrow tweezers from one of the lab boys to get it out. And get this
: pushed down on top of the bug was a crumpled tissue. I think Suzanne stuffed the tissue on top, thinking it would cut off the transmission.”

Carrie looked at Christopher and smiled. “Christopher saw Suzanne stuff that tissue in the vase.”

“That was very observant of you,” said Charles as he patted him on the shoulder. “Becker wants us to sit tight until he can interview us. And he doesn’t want us discussing the shooting until he questions us. I think I’m going to call Simpson and ask him to come over.”

When Charles went to the phone to call Simpson, Carrie looked over at Christopher. He had a big smile on his face.

“See, I knew we shouldn’t talk about the shooting,” he said.

“But, Christopher, there’s a positive side to our rule-breaking,” Carrie defended. “Because of our discussion, we gave the police a valuable piece of evidence about the bug. And they got this information sooner rather than later.”

Charles returned and took the chair opposite Christopher and Carrie.

“Simpson is on his way.”

“Did the Captain tell you anything else?” asked Christopher.

“I was able to pry a couple of morsels out of the good captain. He did tell me the doctors didn’t waste any time getting Suzanne into surgery. They are operating now to remove the bullet in order to relieve pressure on her brain. Becker also placed a twenty-four-hour guard on Suzanne, just in case
there’s another attempt on her life.”

Neither Carrie nor Christopher responded to the news. There was nothing they could say. Just like waiting for Becker, they would have to wait for news about Suzanne’s condition.

Charles continued, “Christopher, you’ll be pleased with this information. While I was in the room, the officer who was checking the neighborhood reported back. He interviewed a man who was walking his dog on the next street. The neighbor said he saw a strange van parked for a long time. Then around the time of the shooting, it left in a hurry.”

“I knew it,” said Christopher
confidently. “I bet they talked to old Mr. Hughes. He and his dog,
Jiggles, are always out taking a walk.”

“One more item
: the police also found a walkie-talkie outside the study, over by the oak tree. Becker asked if it was yours, Christopher, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t. I think that’s how the van was communicating with the shooter.”

“It’s not mine, although it sounds like a
neat gift idea. What else did Captain Becker say?” asked Christopher, energized by the conversation.

“I’m afraid that’s it. Becker is remaining tight-lipped. I only learned about the van and the walkie-talkie because I was in the room when the officer came back.”

“He just wants us to sit here and wait? I’m bored stiff,” exaggerated Christopher.

“I may have something that will keep our interest until we get sprung from this room by the coppers.” Carrie directed her comment to Christopher. Then she reached under the back of her sweater and pulled out Jamie’s journal. She saw Charles and Christopher watching her with curiosity. “I learned this from the waiters at the
Admiral’s Saloon. They keep their ticket books tucked in the back of their slacks, so their hands are free for serving. I figured this same technique would provide a perfect hiding place for the journal.”

“
You continue to surprise me with the things you learn while wandering around our little town.” Charles moved over to sit next to her and Christopher on the sofa.

Carrie placed the journal on the coffee table. Then she carefully opened the journal, as if she were handling a rare book. She turned the pages to the final entries.

“Christopher and I discovered this page, which lists a series of words and thoughts about smuggling.”

Charles picked the journal up and read the list several times before placing the journal back on the table. “This doesn’t add anything more to what we learned at our meeting today, except maybe this reference to caviar,” he said, pointing his finger at the entry. “It still doesn’t provide us with any names.”

“I found another item this morning. It’s a poem Jamie wrote, and I believe it might contain a clue.”

Carrie turned to the poem and handed the journal back to Charles. Charles held the book between himself and Christopher as they read the poem silently. Then Charles read the poem out loud.

“Sounds like one of my dad’s photographs is a clue. But they were all burned in the fire.” Christopher sounded dejected.

“Not necessarily. Copies of many of your father’s photographs are also archived at Faraday Press. Based on the poem, we can start a search for
group photos with at least five people,” suggested Charles.

“Your father was also very clever with words, so we should also think about the meaning of the poem. In the meantime, what do you think we should do with the journal?” Carrie asked, looking at Charles.

“Let’s not share the journal with Becker for now. I want more time to review the poem, and any other entries, before we turn it over to him. Put it back in the hiding place you and Christopher used today. I don’t believe there’s any danger tonight with all the police on site. Plus, you told Suzanne there was nothing incriminating in the journal, for anyone listening,” said Charles.

“As soon as I get upstairs, I’ll hide it.” Carrie placed the journal back in the waistband of her slacks.

Then Christopher said, “Hey, Uncle Charles, I want to ask you something else. When you crawled over to Suzanne did she say something?”

“She was only able to get a few words out, but
I heard her clearly. She said, ‘He’s closer than you think.’ However, before she gave me a name, she fell unconscious.”

Carrie said nothing as she stared in disbelief at Charles. Suzanne said the exact same words Ascot said in her dream.
Another strange coincidence?

Christopher repeated the words out loud and then added, “
It sure sounds like it’s someone we know.”

Before t
hey could create a list of possible suspects Captain Becker entered the room to take their statements. Simpson was right behind him.