The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders (6 page)

“I have no idea,” said Audrey. “Is he alright? Did he get out of the truck before it went in the water?”  

“We don’t know. We have not found a body and no one has seen him since he was in the restaurant with you last night.” 

“Oh dear” said Audrey.   “Please let me know if you find out anything.  He seemed like a nice man.” 

Driver returned to his car and headed off down the driveway.

She heard him wait until the gates opened. She listened to him speed out and down the street with his siren going.  Audrey returned to Suite C and opened the freezer door.  The fish. She had forgotten to remove the fish.  Quite a nice catch it was.  She removed the plastic bag with the now frozen fillets.  She was going to have quite a treat tonight. 

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Something didn’t seem right.  Driver was going through the previous night’s events in his mind.  He had noticed the man, he now knew was Doug Blackmore, enter the bar alone.  He had noticed him because he seemed as though he had been drinking. He was unsteady on his feet and his face was flushed. It is only a few miles from the suites to the restaurant but it seemed too far to walk. He had obviously taken his truck and had to park down the road because the car park was full.    Audrey had arrived about ten minutes earlier.  He had seen her order a wine and she had been sitting by herself at a table in the restaurant.  He hadn’t noticed them again until they left together. 

It was only about five minutes before he left.   He wondered why he had not seen Blackmore walking towards his truck.   He had not seen him in the truck when he pulled away from behind it either and, if he had decided to walk back to the chalets, he would have passed him on the road.

Maybe someone else had seen him walking and offered him a ride.  It didn’t make sense.  Why would he refuse to ride back with Audrey?               

Driver returned to the scene and to his colleagues who were talking to the divers who had been searching the ocean floor.   “The harbor is extremely deep in places and there is a strong current by the pier.  A body could have been swept out to sea,” the divers were saying.

“Found anything?” Driver asked as he scooped under the tape and joined them at the water’s edge.  A tow truck was in the process of pulling the Toyota out of the bay.  Water was gushing out of the vehicle as it was lifted into the air.  Driver noticed that there was a cover over the back of the truck and bits of cardboard and clothing were falling through the gaps back into the water.  

When it was dropped onto the road Driver walked over and lifted up a corner of the cover.  Inside were soggy cardboard boxes that had broken open and clothes and personal items were everywhere.  Fishing gear and golf clubs were scattered on the floor.  It looked as though Blackmore had his life’s possessions in his truck.  

Driver wondered if he was trying to get away from someone or something.  Maybe he had staged his own death. So many questions without any answers. 

He stepped back to let forensics get access to the truck.   

Police cars, the local fire truck, tow truck and officers were everywhere. Locals were kept back from the scene by the yellow tape.   Driver walked over to some of the locals and started asking questions.  “Had they seen anything?” “Had they seen or talked to the driver, Blackmore?   Did anyone see the truck go into the water?”  No one had seen or heard anything it would seem.    He walked over to the jetty where some of the locals had been fishing.   They said the truck was already in the water when they had arrived at sunrise.   Their mates had called 111.  They didn’t know the truck or the driver.  Never seen it before.  No one was talking.

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Audrey sprayed the last nest.  She had counted thirty-two nests, more this year than last year.  The bug man had sprayed inside and outside the units but this just made new nesting places.   Her gardens were expansive and she knew there were, most likely, more nests hiding among the flax leaves but she needed to get on to her gardening.   It was a huge task cutting all the dead fronds from the palm trees.   She cut off eight to ten fronds from each tree.  It took a couple of hours to load all the fronds onto her trailer and carry them in many loads down to the next driveway and dump them on her massive rubbish tip.    She had to wear heavy gloves to prevent the long spiked thorns from ripping into her hands.   As she drove to the dump- site she notice a few birds circling around the pigpen further down the valley.   Audrey liked hard work and, in particular, physical work.  It always made her feel good.   She had told the constable she had a guest staying in Suite C tonight.  She didn’t.  It was a lie.  Tonight she had no bookings but she did have some extra cleaning up to do.  She would wait until it was nearly dark to do her chores.

After an afternoon in the sun, she decided to pour herself a nice cold glass of wine and watch the sun setting over the still water of the bay.  She loved her rural view. Rolling green hills in the distance and green flats in the foreground spotted with cattle. This land, as far as she could see, used to belong to one family.  Over the years it had been sold off. Some of the land was sold in small parcels and homes had been built.  Other parcels were larger and neighboring farmers leased the land to expand their own farms.  This was her favorite time of the day.  Early evening.  She could feel the warmth on her face imprinted from the hot afternoon sun.  Audrey always wore her huge sunglasses she didn’t like bright lights.   She even watched the sunset with her glasses on. 

Audrey decided to empty her and Suite C’s hot tubs and she ran hoses from the spas and released the water.   They emptied pretty quickly.   They took longer to fill and even longer to heat. Now they would be ready for the guests who were scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon. There was a family of four staying in Suite A and she had a honeymoon couple staying in Suite C.   They had both booked for two nights.   Then on Wednesday she had another single gentleman booked into Suite C.    Audrey had never felt this good. Things were looking up.

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Pearl had never had such a busy day.  Her phone had not stopped ringing.  No one could get down to the waterfront so she had become the town’s information center as to what was going on.    Her house was right on the corner and the police had cordoned off the road to the waterfront just past her house.  Only the residents who lived on the road were allowed in and out.   She had wandered down to the scene with her neighbors earlier in the day.  Of course she couldn’t get right up to the water’s edge where the truck had gone in. But she could see all the police cars, fire truck and tow truck and all the goings on there. She had asked a copper if they had found the man.   They said no body had been found.  Her neighbors told her the police were going door to door asking everyone if they had seen the guy, Doug, anytime after he left the restaurant or in the early hours of the morning.   It would seem he had simply disappeared.  

She was waiting for the evening news on the telly wondering if the police had new information.   She was disappointed.  The news just talked about what they already knew.   Except they did interview the man’s wife who said they had just separated, and he was upset. She heard he had taken a trip north.  She did not know what his plans were.  She made it sound as though the man was depressed and maybe he had taken his own life. 

Pearl had heard through the gossip grapevine the guy had stayed at Audrey’s suites the night before.   She was dying to ring her and find out what he was like and if she knew anything.   She took a deep breath and picked up the phone.  The phone rang and rang and was finally picked up by an answering phone.  Obviously Audrey was not talking.

Pearl had recognized the man who Audrey was having dinner with last night as the same man on the telly.  It was Doug Blackmore.  Maybe Audrey was the last person to see him alive.  The police always suspected that person in a murder case.   She wondered if the police had questioned Audrey.  She couldn’t imagine Audrey had anything to do with his disappearance.  Audrey was a bit of a recluse but she seemed friendly enough to all the locals.   She had also been extremely welcoming to the Maori locals.  Some had worked for her when she was renovating the property and others had stayed at the suites on occasion. Audrey just didn’t seem like the sort who would knock off a red-faced drunk.  The phone rang again.  It was another neighbor with the latest news.  They had not found a body yet and were going to start searching again in the morning at first light.   Pearl was too excited to concentrate on the telly.  Instead she decided to walk down to see if the pub was still open with the street cordoned off.   She could find out more if she was in the middle of things.   She grabbed her coat and headed off down the deserted street.

The pub was buzzing.  Filled with locals on their twentieth beer.  They were spilling out onto the street, ciggies in hand.  Most of the locals like a smoke with their beer but New Zealand was a stickler for the non -smoking cause.  The government was working on having the whole country a non -smoking nation by 2015 or so.  Country folk didn’t think much about that.  It seemed to Pearl every single resident of Whangaroa had made it down to the pub tonight.  She had never seen or heard such a noisy crowd.   She joined some friends at the end of the bar. 

“What have you heard,” she yelled over the chatter. 

“The police don’t know anything,” shouted back Bob, a regular at the pub.   “They have searched the bay and there is no sign of him.  He could have been swept out to sea by now. Seems he had all his personal belongings with him.  His wife had kicked him out of the house.   They say he was pretty drunk when he left the restaurant and may have just driven into the bay by accident. Who knows?”   

“Did you know he was staying at the Three Suites?” Pearl asked.  “He was supposed to be staying there last night.” 

Her friends looked surprised at this new information.  “Do the cops know that?” asked Bob.  

“I would think so, “ said Pearl.  “Everyone saw her with him at the restaurant last night. She was the last person to see him alive.”

The group looked puzzled.    “I wonder what she has to say,” Bob said.  “She certainly is a strange one.  Keeps to herself.  Can’t be good for business – losing your guests in the local pond. Hope he paid his bill before he checked out.” He laughed at his own joke.    

Pearl knew she had to talk to Audrey tomorrow.  The suspense was killing her.

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Audrey had just finished filling both the spas and they were in the process of heating up to the desired temperature.  She had put away the hoses and decided it was still light enough to check on the pigpen.   She had guessed the pigs had already enjoyed their evening meal.   She hoped she didn’t have too much cleaning up to do. She knew pigs were actually very clean animals and were given a bad name when it came to personal hygiene.  The local pig farmer had shown her how the pigs would never shit where they ate unlike some other animals.  They would toilet in the same place every time where the farmer could hose off their excrement.  Pigs liked their pens clean.  The farmer brings the sows into the pens for birthing and feeding their young - then they are put out in the paddocks. Wild pigs are smart animals.  It had taken Audrey many weeks to train them to come to the pen to eat.  

She had left her trailer down by the dump when she had removed the last load of palm fronds.   It was easier to keep it there rather than up at the main suites where it would get in the way of the guest’s vehicles.   

She drove her Rav4 down the road and turned into the first driveway.  Audrey had separated out the twelve acres into two parcels with their own entranceways.   This parcel had no buildings and Audrey used it to dump rubbish.   She drove down past the dump and into the valley.  This area could not be seen from the road as it was completely surrounded by hills and pine trees.   Audrey stopped the car when she reached the opening to the pen.  She hoped she had not scared away the pigs.   She let out a sign of relief.  They had already been.  The pen looked almost empty. The pigs had left a mess in and around the pen.   Audrey went around the back of her Rav4 and removed a plastic bag of meat and threw it into the pen.  She needed to keep them happy and coming back for more.   She would need to come back tomorrow night and clean away any tell tale signs.  Another day and the pigs should have eaten any evidence.  But she couldn’t leave anything to chance.

Heading towards the main road she saw the constable’s car turning into entranceway of The Three Suites. She wondered why he was back again.   She turned and followed him up the driveway.  They both parked outside Suite C.   Audrey got out of her car and waited for the constable to make conversation.

“Just have a few more questions for you,” he said.

“Do you have a minute?” 

“Of course,” said Audrey smiling. “I have all the time in the world”. 

The constable looked at Suite C and asked if the new guest had checked in yet.  Audrey said she had made a mistake and, in fact, the honeymoon couple was not checking in until tomorrow. 

“Good” said Driver.  “Mind if I have another look in there?” 

“No, go ahead,” said Audrey.  “ Let me turn on the lights for you.”  He followed her once again into the suite.   Audrey had already replaced the flowers and there was a welcome note on the table.