Murder at the High School Reunion (5 page)

The next morning, Monday, the phone rang just as I was
getting ready to leave to see Doc. According to my Wii scales, I had lost
enough weight to satisfy him. I hoped his scales agreed with mine.

I picked up the phone.

“I don’t have time to talk. I have to get to the
doctor.”

“It’s me, Cy. I just want you to know you need to be
ready to go back to work.”

Each day we worked on a case, Lou had a thought, which
was ultimately helpful in our solving the case. I called them Lou’s messages
from God.

“You got a message?”

“I think so. At least I received a thought that said,
‘North To Alaska.”

“That was a Johnny Horton song, wasn’t it? I don’t
want to go to Alaska, and I have no desire to become a singer, either.”

“I agree with you on both counts. I’m sure that soon
we’ll know what the message means. Just between you and me, I don’t think that
someone shipped those bodies to Alaska.”

We cut out the riffraff. I now had a second reason to
get to Doc and get the weigh-in over with.

+++

I arrived at Doc’s office. My new weight surprised
him. I’d lost thirteen pounds. At two-hundred-ninety-eight pounds, I was a new
man, or at least a slightly smaller version of the old one. As it turned out,
it was good that I lost the weight and received Doc’s blessing. Well, I didn’t
exactly receive Doc’s blessing. He asked me to come back once a month and weigh
in. As long as I’d lost weight each time, he’d allow me to keep my job. And keep
my job I did. Mere minutes after I left Doc’s office, I received a message that
the county high school custodian had returned from his vacation. He’d opened
the walk-in freezer and found the two missing persons. Not exactly Alaska, but a good hint, anyway.

+++

I called Lou and then headed to his place. He was
ready when I arrived. He ran out the door, jumped in the car, and acted like he
wanted to kiss me.

“Cy, I’m so glad to see you.”

“Lou, we saw each other yesterday. Remember? Church?”

“I know, but it’s hard getting used to not being with
you each day.”

“You had me worried there for a minute. I thought I
was going to have to draw my gun to keep you from kissing me.”

“Not on your life, Red Ryder, and don’t try anything
with me, either.”

“Don’t worry!”

+++

Frank Harris, the medical examiner, was heading to the
front door of the school when Lou and I arrived. I’d planned on Wiiing before I
left the house. I knew that those two frozen bodies wouldn’t mind if I did, but
I decided to work my exercise regimen in later. I tooted the horn at Frank, who
turned around, waved, and waited for Lou and me.

“Lou, it looks like I’m seeing less and less of you,
but about the same amount of Cy.”

I knew Frank meant weight when he said that, and not
how often he saw either of us, because if he saw one of us he saw the other. I
smiled. When a man is used to weighing three-hundred-three pounds, and has lost
down to two-ninety-eight, not even his own mother would notice the difference.
Some people have trouble telling that someone who has lost fifty pounds has
lost weight, provided that person is well overweight, which is what most of my
world think I am.

“It’s good to see you, too, Frank. I assume you
haven’t had anything to do for a while, so this will give you something to do.”

“Unlike you, Cy, who only have to work after someone
has been murdered, I’m called in for many kinds of death. However, it is good
to see you,” Frank uttered, as he reached out and patted me on the back.

“Listen, Frank, can we postpone finding the bodies
until tomorrow?”

“And why do you want to do that, Cy?”

“Well, I got in that pot too, and my day is tomorrow.
Why don’t we keep them nice and cold until then?”

“Well, there are three reasons why I don’t think
that’s a good idea. First of all, the custodian already found the bodies. He
might not take too kindly to keeping these bodies for another day. And what if
he talked? It would give the police department a black eye.”

“I don’t know how you count, Frank. Was that one, two,
or all three reasons?”

“Let’s call it two. The other reason is it wouldn’t be
fair to the person who won the pool.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t tell, Frank.”

“Now, Cy, you’re not telling me that you would cheat a
fellow officer, are you?”

“No, Frank, but it’s harder to lose when you come
close. By the way, how much was the pot and who won?”

“It came to $270.”

“That much? Who won?”

“I stopped by and picked up the money on the way out
here.”

“And how many days have you had this guy hide the
bodies?”

“Remember, Cy, he just got back from vacation this
morning.”

Rather than waste the rest of the morning sweating in
the sweltering heat, Frank and I dispensed of pleasantries, and he and Lou
followed me into the school. We were met at the front door by an
average-looking, sandy-haired man dressed in khakis, with a white patch on his
shirt, with blue writing that said his name was Walter. I guessed that the man
was somewhere in his late forties.

“I’m Lt. Dekker. This is Sgt. Murdock, and the medical
examiner Mr. Harris. Are you the man who found the bodies?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ve been on vacation since the night
of the reunion, just got back to work today. Sometimes, when I’m here by
myself, I go a few days without openin’ the walk-in ’frigerator or freezer, but
it’s hot today. I kept workin’ up a sweat and forgot to fill up the ice trays
in that old, small ’frigerator. When I went over and unlocked the big freezer,
I opened it and found…well, follow me, you’ll see.”

“Did you recognize the two people?”

“To be honest with ya, I didn’t look at ’em real
close, but I doubt if they’re anyone I knowed. I went outside, checked all the
doors and winders to see if anyone had broken in, and didn’t find nothin’. I
just got back in afore you pulled in. Could it be that these two have been here
since the reunion?”

“I assume you’ve read about the two people who turned
up missing after the reunion.”

“Can’t say as I have. See, I’ve been out of town,
visitin’ my daughter and her family. Just got back to town Saturday night,
didn’t go nowhere yesterday. Does that mean you have a good idee who they might
be?”

“We think so. Was it a man and a woman?”

“Like I said, I didn’t check. But come to think of it,
I think one of them was wearin’ a dress. Anyways, I panicked for a minute,
didn’t know what to do. Then, I locked the freezer back in case someone came
in, though I didn’t expect no one. I called the principal, but just got a
message. He might be out of town, too. He’s not ’spected to be back ’til next
week. Anyways, I called you guys, then went and walked around the school to see
if I could spot where somebody got in the school while I was gone. Nothing.”

We talked as we walked. We turned right, walked down
the hall and turned left into a large kitchen. A walk-in refrigerator and
freezer stood against the right-hand wall. The custodian walked over to the
wall, just past the two units, and stopped just before he got to a door that
was on the back right side of the building. He removed a key from a nail, made
sure he had the right one, and unlocked the padlock on the freezer.

He took off the lock and opened the door, then stood
back so we could see. There were two people lying face down in the freezer,
huddled together. The two were facing away from the door, but I noticed right
away that the one on the right was wearing a dress, and had shapely legs that
certainly didn’t belong to any man. We encountered no smell, but noticed both
frozen people had skin that had a slight red tint to it. Luckily, Lou and I
wouldn’t be around when the bodies were no longer frozen.

None of the three of us recognized the victims, so I
motioned for the custodian in to step in and see if he knew either of them. He
did so, and then shook his head, indicating that both people were strangers to
him. Somewhat shaken, he stepped back out of the freezer as soon as he could.

Lou and I let Frank look over the victims first. To
give him privacy, the two of us ushered the custodian out of the kitchen and
asked him for some place we could sit and talk. He led us to his office, near
where we came in. As we were about to enter his office, which was more of a
glorified closet, the print crew arrived. I gave them directions to the
kitchen, then joined Lou and the custodian in his small workspace.

I motioned for Walter to take a seat. I took the only
other chair. Walter told Lou he could find a chair in the cafeteria across the
hall. Since Lou wasn’t some dumb sergeant, he brought back a chair, rather than
sit in one in the cafeteria. I waited for Lou to return before I began to see
what the custodian could tell me.

“The name on your shirt says ‘Walter.’ Are you
Walter?”

“Yep. That’s me, Walter Gillis. I’m the custodian
here, been here three years now.”

“And were you here the night of the reunion?”

“Yep. I left on vacation the next day. I was anxious
to get away to see my daughter and grandkids, but I knowed I couldn’t run them
people out of the school until 1:00. They was allowed to stay until then.”

“About how many people attended the reunion?”

“I don’t know. I was told there would be somewheres
atween thirty and fifty.”

“Did you know any of them?”

“I don’t think so. I didn’t really pay no attention to
none of them except’n for Miss Calvert. She’s the one who booked the place. She
had a couple of other women show up just after she did, but I didn’t know
neither of ’em. I pretty much keep to myself. Better that way. That way nobody
can accuse you of nothin’.”

“I assume you were the first one at the school. Did
you work all day that day?”

“Nope, during the summer I come in one or two days a
week to keep up with the dust. That day, I got here a little afore 4:00. Got inside just afore the storm hit. It was pretty bad out this way. Like I said,
Miss Calvert was the first one of them to git here. She showed up somewheres
around 5:00, not long after the storm passed outa here.”

“Tell me about that night. Did the group stay in one
place?”

“Well, it depends on what ya call stay in one place. I
was told they’d be touring the school at first. They came and asked me if I
would unlock some of the classroom doors so they could go in and sit in the
same seats they sit in when they went here. The school told me they might want
to do that, that it was okay, but I had to stay with ’em, make sure they don’t
cart nothing off. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of them to watch. I told ’em
‘fine’ but I had to lock all the doors agin afore they et dinner. So, at 6:45 I started relockin’ all the doors. I had to look in each room, make sure everythang
was all right and nobody was in there, then lock the door. After that, their
to-do was in the cafeteria, but after a while I could hear some of ’em comin’
out to wander the halls, use the facilities, or go outside and smoke. Ain’t
nobody allowed to smoke in the school. They’s real strict about that. They’s
also real strict about drinkin’. I told the lady there was to be no drinkin’,
but I could tell some of them sneaked some stuff in. It led to a few arguments
among some of the party goers, but as long as nobody done no damage to the
school I wasn’t steppin’ in. They don’t pay me enough to break up arguments.
Anyways, it wasn’t none of my business.”

“Anything else happen that might stand out?”

“Well, after a while, probably around 10:00 or 11:00, this here guy shows up, wantin’ to know where his wife is. I was in the
restroom at the time, but when I came out and seen a crowd just outside the
cafeteria, I walked up to see what was goin’ on. That Calvert woman came up
just afore I did, and she said she could handle it. I told her if’n it got out
of hand I was callin’ the police. That seemed to calm everybody down somewhat,
so I took my friend Earl to my office so we could visit. I hadn’t seen him in a
while.”

“Wait, wait a minute. Who’s Earl, and where did he
come in?”

“He came in with the guy who was lookin’ for his wife.
Turns out that the storm we had that day knocked over a tree and blocked the
road out where this here guy lives. Well, somebody called this guy from here,
told him his wife was runnin’ around with some drunk and he’d better come and
git her, take her away. This here guy knew that Earl had a boat, and they could
get to the school by way of the river, so that’s what he did, called Earl.
Earl’s a really good guy, always willin’ to hep out somebody.”

The thought of the school and the river made my mind
wander. I envisioned the two people floating down the river, without a paddle,
hollering for help. Lou nudged me to bring me back to the moment at hand.