Murder at the High School Reunion (10 page)

I swear I saw Mr. Korlein flinch, when I added those
last three words.

“Oh, one final thing, do either of you know someone
named Jennifer Garner?”

Korlein grinned.

“You mean the actress?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to know if you know
anyone by that name.”

“Well, if you mean the actress, I’d sure like to know
her.”

April Korlein’s elbow connected with her husband’s
ribs about the time Lou and I got up to leave.

“So, you think she looks pretty good, huh?”

“Don’t you, Lieutenant? You’re a man. What man
wouldn’t want to spend time with her?”

April Korlein’s elbow was a little harder the second
time.

“Now, honey, you know I’m just kidding. Remember how
I’m always telling you about how all the guys are jealous of me because I’ve
got you.”

Neither of us said a word until we were safely
ensconced in Lightning.

Lou turned to me as soon as he was sure no one could
overhear us.

“So, what do you think, Cy?”

“I think April Korlein looks pretty good. And you?”

“Me, too, but I also think she looks pretty married.”

“Maybe not for much longer after those remarks her husband
made. Anyway, Lou, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I think Rose Ellen
Calvert has the hots for you. Did you see the way she looked at you? Of course
she needs a makeover, but not an extreme one.”

“You interested in double dating, Cy. Me and Rose
Ellen, you and your next-door neighbor?”

I knew it was time to change the subject.

“Does this make you think about our high school days,
Lou?”

“A little. I can remember when you stuck Ruby
Hatcher’s pigtails in your inkwell.”

“There wasn’t any Ruby Hatcher at our school, and
there weren’t any inkwells, either.”

“Well, Cy, I can remember back when I was prom king.”

“You didn’t even go to the prom, Lou. Neither did I.”

“I know you didn’t. So, how do you know I wasn’t prom
king?”

“Maybe because the students at our school were smart
enough not to do something like that. By the way, speaking of the prom, I
remember going to school the Monday after the prom. Rachel Robinson came up to
me and said, “Cy, I was hoping you’d be at the prom. It was the only reason I went.
So, you know what I did?”

“Yeah, you asked her out, dated her a few times after
that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, we dated a few times until she went off to
college. She was kind of cute with that red hair and freckles. Of course, it
wasn’t long after that that I met my Eunice.”

I started getting sentimental, so Lou brought my mind
back to the murders.

“You think some actress might be mixed up in this?”

“I don’t know. But from the look on Korlein’s face, I
sure hope so. I’ll make sure I Google her as soon as I get home tonight.”

Evidently Lou’s clue of the day had something to do
with an actress. I wondered how an actress might figure into our case. It
wouldn’t be the first time his clue was a famous person. I’d try to find out
how famous this Jennifer Garner was before I let anybody downtown know her name
meant nothing to me. At least most of our suspects didn’t know her. Well, the
ones who lived way out in the country. Plus, Rose Ellen Calvert, who I assumed
was more into books than movies or TV.

I knew Lightning wouldn’t give away any of our
secrets, so we talked as we headed to the Justices’ house. Five minutes later,
we pulled up in front of our last house of the night.

A pretty blonde-headed woman answered the door,
admitted to being Sandy Justice. I told her who we were and that we needed to
talk to her and her husband. She told me her husband was on the phone. She
seemed a little miffed when I asked her who he was talking to. I was a little
miffed when she told me Billy Korlein. She invited us in and I saw George
Justice sitting in a chair, talking on the phone. I told him I needed him to
get off immediately. Justice was short and thin, and had hair the color that
some people would refer to as red, others as blond.

When Justice ended his call, he turned to us and said,
“I would ask who’s ordering me to get off my own phone in my own house, but I
already know who you are. I also know why you’re here.”

So much for pretending he didn’t know who we were, but
also so much for my surprise attack.

Mrs. Justice looked as if she didn’t have a clue what
was going on, so her husband filled her in.

“That was Billy Korlein. Jimmy Conkwright and Betty
Gail Spencer were killed the night of the reunion. These two gentlemen are
investigating the murders. Am I right…? I’m sorry. I didn’t get your names.”

“I’m Lt. Dekker and this is Sgt. Murdock. So, what
else did Mr. Korlein tell you?”

“Just that you were over to his place asking him and
April questions about what happened that night. We don’t know any more than
they do.”

“Sometimes one person may notice something that
another person doesn’t. That’s the reason it’s a good idea to talk to anyone
who was a witness.”

“You mean someone there that night might have
witnessed the murders?”

“They could have, but I’m talking about anything that
went on that night. Why don’t I start with you, Mrs. Justice? Tell me all that
you can remember about that night.”

“That was a few weeks ago, now. I’m not sure I can
remember everything, but I’ll try.”

Her husband interrupted, but I asked him to be quiet
until it was his turn. His wife seemed to be waiting for something. I told her
to go ahead, tell me what she could remember, and I’d ask any questions that
might fill in the holes.

“Well, as you probably know, it was our twenty year
high school reunion. Ours wasn’t a big school, so there weren’t a lot of people
there that night, but most of us made it. It was fun at first, and then Jimmy
came in. It had been a while since I’d seen him, or even thought about him, but
I recognized him. I’d hoped that he’d changed, but he didn’t seem to be any
different, except that he looked older, like the rest of us. I remember my
mouth flew open when I saw him. George looked at me, then turned and looked in
the direction I was looking. He was next to me, so I laid my hand on his arm
and said, ‘Now, George, calm down. Let’s see how Jimmy acts.’ George said
something like, ‘Murderers like him don’t change.’”

Mr. Justice opened his mouth to defend himself. I
silenced him before he could start, and directed his wife to continue.

“Well, it wasn’t any time until Jimmy came over to me
and April. We were cheerleaders in high school, and Jimmy said something about
us doing a cheer just for him. I was thinking, I bet my husband has something
just for you. George stood up, and was about to get in Jimmy’s face when Jim
Bob Gibbons stepped in and pulled Jimmy away. I can’t remember much else,
except that Jimmy lost interest in me when Betty Gail Spencer showed up without
Duck and didn’t ward off Jimmy’s advances. Anyway, at some point, Jimmy left
with Betty Gail right behind him and they came back a few minutes later. It was
obvious both of them had been drinking. I remember somewhere in there Jimmy
tried to pull me to the dance floor, and the rest of the guys threw him out of
the cafeteria. A couple of times my husband and some of the others went looking
for Jimmy and Betty Gail. One of those times was after Duck showed up. George
called him and told him what was going on. When Duck got there, the guys went
looking for Betty Gail.”

“Do you remember which guys?”

“Not really. I know that George and Billy were two of
them, because April and I started talking about what might happen if they found
them. We were worried, thought about calling the cops, but we decided to wait
until our husbands came back.”

“And how long before they came back?”

“I’m not sure exactly. It probably seemed longer than
it was. I know before they came back to stay, a couple of times one of them
poked his head in to see if Jimmy had come back.”

“Weren’t they concerned that Jimmy might come back
when they weren’t there and try something with you?”

“No, because before they left, all the guys got
together and some of them volunteered to stay in case Jimmy came back.”

“Mrs. Justice, do you know whether or not anyone else
left the cafeteria while your husband was gone?”

“Several people did, but just to go to the restroom.
They were all back really quick.”

“What about Rose Ellen Calvert? Did she leave?”

“I know she left once, right after Jimmy left. I’m not
sure if it was the first or second time he left. I think she left one other
time. I know one time she told us she had to go to the restroom, but I can’t
remember when that happened. It could have been early or late.”

“Did all the guys come back at once?”

“No, but there wasn’t much difference between when
they all got back. At least I don’t think so.”

“And what did your husband have to say when he got
back?”

George Justice tried to interrupt again, but again I
silenced him. His wife didn’t seem to notice and continued with her answer.

“Just that they didn’t have any luck finding Betty
Gail, and they didn’t run into Jimmy either.”

“Did you believe him?”

“Of course! Anyway, the school is small enough that we
would have heard them as loud as they would have been.”

“What if they saw Jimmy, sneaked up behind him, and
bopped him on the head?”

“I imagine Betty Gail would have screamed.”

“Not if they bopped her at the same time.”

“Lieutenant, I know you don’t know us very well, but
the men I know would never bop a woman on the head.”

“Not even Duck Spencer, if he was mad at his wife?”

“I don’t know Duck as well as I do some of the other
guys, but we’ve been around him some. He and George are good friends, so George
would know better than I would, but I don’t see him doing anything like that to
his wife.”

“What about if Jimmy Conkwright or Betty Gail Spencer
made someone good and mad?”

“Well, they say that all of us are capable of murder
if provoked. I guess anything is possible. I just don’t believe any of us
murdered anyone.”

“Well, someone there did.”

When I made that statement, neither of the Justices
had a thing to say.

“Let me ask you something else, Mrs. Justice. What can
you tell me about Miriam Van Meter?”

“The mystery girl. Now, there’s a name I haven’t heard
in forever. She just wandered in from out of nowhere our senior year. Well, we
were seniors. She was a freshman. Usually seniors and freshmen never have any
classes together, but I needed one more class to graduate, and since my other
classes were hard, I opted for a nice, easy class to fill out my last
requirement. Miriam was in that class. We were given an assignment where we
were to pair up with another student and give a report in front of the class.
Miriam seemed to be the class outcast, because of the way she was, and the rest
of them were all friends, so, as it turned out, Miriam and I were the last two
without a partner. I suggested that I come over to her house or she come over
to mine to work on the project. She finally agreed to come to mine. Well, she
came over one afternoon, right after school, and we did the work we needed to
do, and then she left. Not long after she left, I remembered that I needed to
ask Miriam something before the next morning. Miriam had told me that she was
Mrs. Edwards’ niece, and was living with her. Well, I didn’t really know Mrs.
Edwards, but I knew where she lived. My mom drove me over there and planned to
wait on me, because what I needed would only take a minute. Well, I knocked on
the door and Mrs. Edwards came to the door. She told me Miriam didn’t live
there. When I told her, Miriam had told me that was where she lived, she said
something funny. She said, ‘Oh, Miriam, I thought you said Mary Ann.’ I didn’t
want to cause a scene, but the next day I made it a point to seek out Mrs. Edwards’
daughter, who was a junior at our school. She told me that evidently some
friend’s daughter was out of district and wanted to attend our school, so her
mother agreed to pretend that the girl lived there. I tried to find out who it
was, but Carrie Edwards had no idea.”

Like Jimmy Conkwright, no one seemed to like Miriam
Van Meter, and everyone seemed to agree about her, but this was the first time
anyone had volunteered that all was not right with her. She might need some
looking into.

I turned to Mr. Justice, who seemed to have turned
reticent.

“So, Mr. Justice, what have you got to add to what
your wife told us?”

“The way she told it, it looks like all of us guys
were murderers. It wasn’t that way at all. Jimmy got out of line, and we did
the best we could to see that he didn’t cause any more trouble. None of us saw
Jimmy or Duck’s wife other than when we were in the cafeteria. So, that let’s
all of us off.”

“How does that let you off?”

“We were together the whole time. Unless you’re
insinuating that we all chopped him to death. Her, too.”

“I’m not insinuating anything. But we have had three
people tell us that the four of you separated after you left the cafeteria.”

“They must have meant after Jimmy left the first
time.”

“No, they were talking about the second time.”

“Well then whoever they are they’re lying.”

“Even your own wife said you didn’t all come back in
together.”

“Well, we might not have done that. It’s possible one
of us might have stayed out in the hall. Oh, yeah! I remember. I think Billy and
Duck might have stepped outside for a smoke.”

“Was this before or after the two people were
murdered?”