The Valentine's Day Murder (7 page)

Carlotta opened the box and started through the papers. “I keep some jewelry here,” she said as she looked. “Stuff I don’t wear often. Here are some automobile papers, our marriage certificate. What’s this?” She pulled out an envelope and looked inside. “This looks like papers for Val’s business. And the envelope has the lawyer’s name and address on it.”

“Let’s write it down. We may want to talk to him.”

She continued through the papers. “Here’s Val’s birth certificate. He was born in Connecticut.” She handed it to me. “And here’s the deed to the house.”

I wrote down the information on the birth certificate, glanced at the deed, and asked her if there was anything else that looked important.

“I can’t find anything.”

“So there’s nothing that looks like a will.”

“Nothing at all. You want to have a look?”

“No, that’s fine.”

“Then that’s it. No, here’s something I missed. It’s from an insurance company.” She pulled out an envelope and looked inside. “It’s a life insurance policy. I never knew Val carried any. My God, Chris, it’s a million dollars on his life.”

“Who’s the beneficiary?”

She looked pale. “I can’t believe this. Matty is. Matthew Franklin.” She looked at me, her face asking the question she could barely articulate. “Why would he do this, Chris? Val’s left a million dollars to Matty. A million dollars.”

I wondered if she was thinking that he hadn’t left anything like that to her.

* * *

She was somber on the way home. The envelopes with the insurance policy and the business papers lay on the seat between us.

“You don’t think there were any other insurance policies in the box besides this one?” I asked.

“There weren’t. I looked.”

“We’ll have to find out if there’s a will.”

“Wouldn’t he keep that in the box?”

“Maybe it’s with an attorney.”

“I’ve never felt so confused in my life.”

“I know you’re thinking that this makes it look as though Val had a motive for killing Matty, but it doesn’t. He could have cancelled that policy at any time, or changed the beneficiary. Maybe he took it out before you were married and he forgot about it.”

“How do you forget about a million dollars?”

I was asking myself the same thing. “He may have stopped paying the premiums, Carlotta. Anyway, whether Val is dead or alive, he isn’t legally dead so no one’s going to inherit that insurance.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that Annie Franklin doesn’t have to know about it.”

“She certainly won’t hear it from me.”

“And maybe we’ll turn up a reason.”

“I’d rather turn up a husband.” She turned quickly toward me and gave me a fleeting smile. “If it’s all the same to you.”

I left Carlotta in Val’s study, going through his desk drawers to see if she could find the answers to the disturbing questions we had just unearthed. As I drove toward Bambi Thayer’s house I wondered whether the insurance policy could have lapsed, whether Val had taken it out years ago and then stopped paying the premiums on it, perhaps when he married. It had been the bottom envelope in the box, indicating that it might be the oldest. I would have to check when I got back.

Bambi’s house was more modest than Annie’s, but well cared-for, lots of shrubs planted near the front of the house and handsome specimen trees on the front lawn. I parked at the curb. A car was in the driveway and the garage door was open.

I was a little nervous as I walked up to the front door. Bambi didn’t want to see me, and she might exercise her right not to invite me in and talk to me. I didn’t look forward to a confrontation and hoped there wouldn’t be one.

The door opened after the first ring. The young woman who stood just inside was slim, with lots of curly dark blond hair, and pale skin. She wore no makeup and was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

“Yes?”

“Mrs. Thayer, I’m Chris Bennett.”

“Who?”

“I’m looking into the disappearance of Val Krassky.”

“Oh, you. I told Carlotta I didn’t want to talk to you. Didn’t you get the message?”

“I did and I’m sorry to intrude, but I thought if you had a few minutes—I don’t want to upset you, but I think you know a lot that can be helpful.”

She gave me an appraising look, her face tight and her eyes cool. “You’re not what I expected.”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I said nothing.

“Come on in.” She opened the door all the way, and I walked into her foyer. “Give me your coat. We can sit in the living room. I’ve just been picking up after the kids.” She hung my coat in a closet next to the door, and we went into the living room and sat.

“I appreciate this,” I said.

“I expected some tough detective-type.”

“I teach a course in poetry at a college near my home.”

“Poetry,” she said, as though it were something she hadn’t heard about for a long time. “My dad used to read poetry.”

“Bambi, I’m very sorry about your husband.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “They were crazy to go out on the lake that night. They should have known better—Clark should have known better. He could never say no when Matty dared him, but he didn’t kill Matty. He loved him. I don’t care what Annie and Carlotta say. Clark didn’t have it in him to kill anything.”

“When did you last see Clark?”

“Sometime that afternoon. It was Val’s birthday and
the guys were going out to celebrate. They went to this Italian restaurant they liked.”

“What did he say before he left?”

“Not to wait up for him.”

“Was that unusual?”

She shook her head. “Not when the three of them went out together. Sometimes they’d take in a late movie, sometimes they’d go to a bar and sit for a couple of hours. I didn’t think anything of it. He said good-bye to the kids and kissed me—” She swallowed painfully.

“Did he come back to the house for anything later?”

“No. He walked out and I never saw him again.”

“Were you home that night?”

“The whole night.”

“Do you remember if he was wearing boots when he left the house?”

“Work boots, I think. He wore them a lot in the winter.”

“Did Clark own a gun?” I asked.

“Never.” She looked very defensive. “Never in his life.”

“Did he sell guns in the store?”

“No. He sold hardware things, tools and nails and building and household supplies.”

“How did he get into the business?” I asked. “Did he start the store himself or was it his parents’?”

“His parents are dead. He started working for the original owner when he was young. When the old guy wanted to retire, Clark bought him out. It’s a real institution, that store. We’ve got everything.”

“But no guns.”

“No guns. I don’t think Clark ever shot a gun in his life. Matty did. He was a big hunter. He probably had a
handgun even if Annie says he didn’t. Annie says what’s convenient.”

“What about Val? Do you think he could have owned a gun?”

“Anyone could own a gun. Since the accident, I’ve been thinking about getting one myself, but I’m scared because of the kids. They’re into everything. A gun’s no good if it’s locked away when you need it.”

“Did you get along with Carlotta and Annie?”

“I got along. We all got along.”

“Do you like them as friends?”

“I have other friends. These were my husband’s friends’ wives. I liked them. Annie’s been very nice to me since the accident, I mean really nice. Carlotta’s been a little cool. She went away somewhere right after it happened and when she came back, I don’t know. It’s been tough on all of us. She’s called a lot.”

“I heard you had a funeral for Clark right after the accident.”

“I knew they were gone,” she said. “They found Matty’s red scarf at the break in the ice. I knew if he was gone, then Clark was gone.”

“Carlotta thinks Val is still alive,” I said.

“Don’t you believe it. He’s gone, too. They went on that ice together and they died together. He’ll float up. He’ll probably have a bullet hole in him, too. Watch and see.”

“Who do you think shot him?”

“Matty. I think Matty shot Val first. Then Clark got the gun away from him and shot him accidentally. That’s how this all happened.”

“Why would Matty shoot Val?” I asked.

“Jealousy,” she said. “Matty never succeeded at
anything in his whole life. His life was one failure after another. The only thing he did right was marrying Annie. She was a catch. She’s good-looking, and she’s got some money. It helps, when you have a husband that doesn’t always bring home a paycheck.”

“How did Matty and Annie meet?” I thought it would be a good idea to get everyone’s point of view.

“I think Val knew her first. He may even have introduced them. It was before Val met Carlotta.”

“Was Annie from around here?”

“Uh, from near New York, I think. New Jersey, maybe.”

“Do you think there was anything going on between Val and Annie?”

Her eyebrows rose. “Val and Annie? I never thought of that.”

“Think about it now.”

She looked at me. Her face was so serious through the whole conversation that she could have been working through a final exam. “I don’t think so,” she said. “Val and Carlotta, they’re a good couple. They’re good together. And I think Matty and Annie were, too. Annie likes to flirt a little, but I don’t think she means anything by it. She’s got a real good heart.”

It was hard to tell whether Bambi was being honest or saying nice things because she thought it was the right thing to do. She struck me as a genuinely good person—but I’ve been wrong before.

“Does Clark have brothers and sisters?”

“No, there’s just him. Maybe that’s why he always felt the guys were like his brothers. A person needs a family. I’ve got a big one, and it’s helped a lot, especially since the accident.”

“Bambi, when did the three men become friends?”

“It must have been at Bennett High School. That’s in Buffalo. It couldn’t have been later. Val went off to one college and Matty went to another. Clark went to UB for a semester and then dropped out. So if they hadn’t known each other in high school, they would never have met. They were all in different places after that.”

“So they all went to Bennett?”

“I think so. Clark did. He told me.”

“Was he living with his parents then?”

“He must have been. I’m not sure when they died, but I don’t think it was that long ago. I mean, he was finished with school by that time.”

“Bambi, I’m staying with Carlotta. You can call me there if you want to tell me anything. If you don’t want her to know you’ve called, I’ll give you my phone number at home. Leave a message on my answering machine or tell my husband, Jack, you want to talk to me.”

“OK.”

I wrote the number and my name on a slip of paper and gave it to her. “If Val wanted to disappear, do you have any idea where he would go?”

“Val’s dead, Chris. You don’t walk away from an accident on the ice. Don’t you know what that red scarf meant? Clark was pulling Matty up with it after Matty was shot. The double weight must have broken the ice under Clark, and he dropped in the water, too. Matty must have let go of the scarf. That’s how come they found it. It was very light, cashmere or something. But they all went down. You’re not going to find Val alive. It’s all over.”

I thanked her for her time and her help and drove back to Carlotta’s house, mulling over her theory of the scarf.

* * *

Carlotta was sitting in a leather chair in Val’s study, three desk drawers stacked beside her. She looked up as I entered the room. “Success?” she said.

“Yes. She talked to me. She thinks Matty was the man with the gun.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say the same thing. So she thinks Clark took the gun away from him?”

“In a fight that started between Matty and Val.”

“Over what?”

“Jealousy. Val had everything, Matty couldn’t make it in the world of business.”

“She’s got it right there, but Matty never seemed jealous of anyone. Quite the reverse.”

“It’s just a theory. Have you found anything in the desk?”

“Nothing to explain that insurance policy. But I’ve learned something very interesting. I called the company and tried to find out whether the policy was still active. The agent gave me a little lesson in insurance. If Matty died before Val, no one inherits the million. And if both of them died in the accident, before Annie could inherit there would have to be proof that Val died first.”

“That is interesting. So if Val is alive, Annie doesn’t inherit. And even if Val’s body is found, it’s a tough case to prove.”

“Exactly.” I noted a little triumph in her voice.

“Is there a date on the policy, Carlotta?” I sat in the other leather chair.

“Yes. He took it out about a year before I met him.”

“Maybe Matty was in financial trouble and Val wanted to see to it that he was taken care of.”

“Maybe,” she said, but it was clear she wasn’t convinced.

“Carlotta, what we’ve learned in the last few hours is that there was something unusual about the relationship those three men had. Each of the wives has told me that her husband loved the other two, but Bambi thought Matty was jealous of Val, and Annie thought there was bad blood between Val and Matty because of her.”

“That’s absurd.”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s absurd. It doesn’t even matter whether it’s true. They have these perceptions. You seem to be the only one of the three who doesn’t feel there was trouble between any two of them.”

“There wasn’t. They were friends, they loved each other, they went out together and we went out as couples. Annie and Bambi are looking for something where nothing exists. I understand why. They’ve lost their husbands—and maybe I have, too, but I think when they were having dinner that night at Giordano’s, they were three happy guys.”

“One of whom had a gun.”

She didn’t answer. She looked down at the drawer next to her and pulled out a couple of pieces of paper. “I certainly haven’t found a license to carry a gun here.”

“Bambi was home the whole night on February fourteenth. She says Clark never came back after he left for dinner. He was wearing work boots when he went out.”