Murder at the High School Reunion (6 page)

“Did that guy find his wife?”

“Not here he didn’t. At least not as far as I can
tell. A while later, he come in here, knocked on the door, and thanked Earl for
bringin’ him. He told Earl that he had another way to get home. That was the
last I saw of him.”

“So, you had your office door shut?”

“Not all the way. It was open a crack. That way people
knowed I was in here, and I could hear if somethin’ really got out of hand.”

“So, what happened after that?”

“Earl and me sat here a few minutes, talkin’. I could
tell he missed the place, so I give him a chance to revisit the old days. See,
Earl was the janitor here afore I was. I worked with him the last year he was
here. We got to be good friends, and he showed me the ropes. Anyway, we walked
over to the cafeteria, made sure there wasn’t anythang going on that shouldn’t
be, then Earl and me walked the halls and he looked over the place he used to
clean. Nobody could make a school shine like Earl could. We’d pass some room
and Earl’d tell me a story about somebody. After a while we come back down
here, made sure everthang was okay. Course I assumed that it was, ’cause we
didn’t hear nothin’ and the school’s not all that big.”

“And was everything okay?”

“It seemed to be. Earl said he’d better git, and
headed out to his boat. I walked out with him, watched him until his boat got
outa sight. Oh, when I came back down here, I seen  some of them people
leaving, and others had already gone, but some stayed right on up until 1:00.”

“Did you check everything before you left, make sure
that everyone had left the building?”

“No, Earl and me checked all the rooms while we was
upstairs. All the doors was locked. Did you go to school here, Lieutenant?”

“No, I grew up here, but I went to the city schools.”

“Well, you might not know this. There’s only a couple
of classrooms downstairs, wood shop and art. The rest of the downstairs is the
gym, the cafeteria, the principal’s office, the guidance counselor, thangs like
that.”

“Did you go here, Walter?”

“No, I growed up somewheres else. I ain’t been here
but four years now. I worked a year fillin’ in for whoever was sick or on
vacation, or if they needed more hep somewhere for some reason. They knew that
Earl was goin’ to retire in another year, so they sent me over to hep him,
since he wasn’t gettin’ no younger, they give him a chance to teach me the
ropes, so I wouldn’t have to learn everthang the hard way.”

“So, tell me about how things ended that night?”

“I went in the cafeteria, reminded everyone that it
was 1:00. There was only a handful of ’em left, though most of ’em had only
been gone a few minutes. They packed up their stuff, while I checked the other
two doors, to make sure they was locked. That’s when I found out that someone
had been in the kitchen and unlocked the outside door. That was the first I
knowed about that. I opened the door and looked out, but didn’t see no one. So,
I locked up and walked out with Miss Calvert, pulled out right behind her.”

“Is the back door key where someone could get ahold of
it?”

“Not any of that bunch. Not without bein’ lucky. The
only one that wasn’t behind a locked door somewheres was either with the
principal or up there.”

He pointed to keys hanging on the wall behind him.

“Was it marked ‘kitchen door?’”

“It was, but I’m pretty sure nobody was in my office.”

“How easy would it be for someone to unlock the back
door from the inside?”

“Real easy. You just turn the thingamajig  inside the
knob sideways.”

“So, whoever unlocked that door would have had to have
unlocked it from the inside?”

“Yep, but after that, someone could have used that
door as many times as they wanted.”

“Let’s get back to when you left. Were there any cars
in the parking lot when you left?”

“Nope, but I already noticed that when I looked out
the back door. If there had been, I wouldn’t have left without checking things
out again. The parkin’ lot was empty. I went home, got as much sleep as I
could, then took off to see my daughter. She was spectin’ me around about 4:00 Sunday afternoon.”

“One more question. Was the freezer locked the night
of the reunion, and if so, where was the key?”

“Yep, it was, and the key was right on the hook where
it always is. You remember me takin’ a key down and unlockin’ it for you a few
minutes ago?”

I nodded.

“Well, that’s where it always is.”

“And the key was marked ‘Freezer?’”

“Right.”

I thanked Walter for his help, and Lou and I got up to
rejoin Frank.

+++

“As far as I can tell, Cy, these people died in this
freezer, but I won’t know for sure until after I perform the autopsies.”

“You think they’ve been here since the night of the
reunion?”

“There’s no way to tell for sure, but my guess is
‘yes’. The man had a driver’s license on him, the woman no ID. He was James
Russell Conkwright, Jr. of Illinois.”

“You mean Big Russ’s son.”

“One and the same, and one of the biggest juvenile
offenders as long as his daddy could buy off the judge. Big Russ even got him
off from a possible murder charge. That’s when he left town. And not long
before that there were rumors that he got drunk and shot someone. Of course,
that could never be substantiated.”

“I didn’t know about the shooting incident, but I
remember the wreck. He was driving drunk. The girl with him died.”  

“I think that’s what ultimately killed Big Russ, too.
For the most part, he was a good man, but that son of his was nothing like
him.”

“Looks like somebody didn’t like it when that son came
back, either. Now, all we have to do is figure out who the woman lying beside
him is and where she fits in.”

“I think it’s safe to say we’ll be able to find a lot
of people who didn’t like Junior, and each of them will have a different
motive. I’m glad you’re the ones tackling this case, and not me. I’ll just let
you know how they died. Plus, we’ll call in the husband whose wife was missing,
find out if she’s still missing, and if so, have him come in to see if this is
her.”

“Maybe he’ll be our first suspect.”

“Could be, Cy, but I doubt if he’s your last.”

I turned from Frank and walked over to the print crew,
who seemed to be finishing up.

“Find anything that might help us?”

“We’ve got plenty of smudges, most of those we won’t
be able to do anything with. But we did lift some prints from the door of the
freezer, like someone had gripped it before opening it, and a full set of
prints, as if someone had leaned against it. Also, we have another set of
prints from the wall, near where the keys were hanging. Other than that, we
didn’t find anything in the rest of the kitchen. I’d say during the school
year, finding anything would be nearly impossible, but with school out, and the
place being cleaned since the school was used, this could be something. Of
course, they could be the custodian’s prints, or whoever opened the door and
found these people. We’ll let you know as soon as we have anything.”

+++

I drove back into town, dropped Lou at his place, and
then drove home to fix lunch. How weird that sounded. It was hard enough
adjusting to fixing my own meals when I had nothing else to do. Now I had to do
it and solve a murder, too.

I’d forgotten all about the mid-morning snack I was
supposed to eat on my new diet. I brushed that aside and fixed myself a burger
with no bun, and a salad. I poured a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, and
some herbs over the salad. It reminded me of those see-through dressings I
can’t stand, but I had to try this, at least long enough to get Doc off my
back. I ate, and thought about starting a new book, but I wasn’t sure how busy
we’d be on this case. I’d give it a couple of days and then check with Lou, see
what he thought we should do. Instead of reading, I Wiied for a few minutes.
After that, I was ready for a nap.

I was sure that Frank would know the woman’s identity
the next day. If she was the woman we thought she was, I had another person to
question. It would make for a full day; the Calvert woman, the retired
custodian, and the husband. I was sure there would be others. It was beginning
to look like things would soon be back to normal, minus the meals we were used
to eating at the Blue Moon. The Blue Moon. I wondered what Rosie was doing. I
wondered if the owner had decided whether or not to reopen. And I wondered that
if the diner reopened, would Lou and I be among its customers. Doc had given me
an ultimatum. Could I eat at the Blue Moon and still lose weight? If so, I’d
have to change what I ate there. It was too much to think about with a couple
of new murders facing us.

Frank called the next morning, after he was sure that
I was up. Not only was I up, I’d finished eating a breakfast of two eggs, two
pieces of bacon, a bowl of oatmeal with some cinnamon sprinkled on top, and an
apple. He called just as I finished reading my daily devotionals and was
putting my Bible away.

I knew that few people had my number, so I answered
the phone, pretending to be upset.

“Which one of you rapscallions is trying to ruin my
day?”

“The one with all the bodies.”

“So, Frank, you have something for me already?”

“I do. I know how you’re itching to get out of the
house. I want to give you a chance to get some exercise.”

“So, what did you learn?”

“They’re both dead.”

“So, they did that cryo thing, and didn’t have anyone
there to unfreeze them?”

“Go take a shower.”

“I plan to, just as soon as I exercise.”

“Cy, the only exercise you ever do is lifting yourself
from your bed each morning.”

Boy, will Frank be surprised when he sees the new me.

“Well, it’s the only way I can get out of bed, that
one-half of a sit-up thing. You have a better idea.”

“No, since you don’t have a crane in your bedroom, but
I do know a little more about our dead people than you do.”

“Who told you I don’t have a crane in my bedroom? How
do you think I’ve been getting up the last few years?”

“I figured your next-door neighbor came over and
helped you up.”

“If she did, I’d be in quarantine.”

“You should be anyway. Cy, I’ve got work to do. Do you
want to know about these people, or not?”

“If I say, or not, does that mean I can go back to
bed?”

“Yeah, but I’d say you’d lose your job over it.”

“Well, then, shoot.”

“Well, first of all, it’s simple. To use layman’s
terms, they froze to death in the freezer.”

“What do you professionals call it? Hyperventilating?”

“No, Cy, that’s something else. Now are you going to
let me finish?”

“Go ahead, but remember to use words we peons can
understand.”

“They hadn’t been hit over the head with a blunt
instrument, although Conkwright did have some lacerations on the front of his
face, as if he’d fallen down on the sidewalk. Actually, it was more like he’d
been pushed from behind, but that didn’t have anything to do with the way he
died. It didn’t even knock him out. Also, the victims hadn’t been moved since
they died. However, we found fingerprints on the door that belong to both of
the deceased, and there were smears on the wall, near where the ‘Freezer’ key
hung, that we think belonged to the deceased male. Both of the deceased had
been drinking, the male enough that he was drunk, the female had had a few,
too.”

“So, do you think they were so inebriated that they
walked into the freezer, shut the door, and froze to death?”

“And used some kind of rope trick to lock the padlock
and put the key back?”

“They could have put the key back themselves, and it’s
possible that the custodian saw the padlock unlocked, and locked it back, but
someone, whether it was the custodian or not, had to padlock the door after
they entered the freezer. Anyway, I’ll ask the custodian if he locked the
freezer when he locked the back door. Anything else you have for me?”

“Just that the freezer door doesn’t close
automatically. I tried it. You have to push it to. Oh, and the husband, a guy
by the name of Duck Spencer, came in and identified his wife. He seemed upset
with her death, but irate that she was found with Jimmy Conkwright. I have his
address, plus the address of the woman who booked the place, if you want to
talk to either of them.”

I wrote down the addresses Frank gave me, hung up my
phone, then picked up the phone again and called the school. With these
newfangled phones, there’s no hanging up, but my phone is almost as old as I
am, so it must be hung up each time I end a call. It’s so old it has a rotary
dial.

I called the school and talked to Walter. He said he
couldn’t remember unlocking or locking the freezer that night. He also said
that someone got ahold of the principal and he was on his way back from
vacation a few days early.

I hung up, called Lou, told him what I knew. Since it
was still early, I told him I’d Wii and shower before I picked him up. After a
“Good for you,” I hung up. I wasn’t sure if Lou was glad I was going to Wii, or
shower. Probably both. Since Lou is an early riser, I assumed that he’d already
done both.

+++

Lou opened the door to Lightning, sat down and buckled
himself.

“Jennifer Garner.”

“No, Cy Dekker, and you are…”

“I mean Jennifer Garner were the words I received this
morning.”

“Well, who in the world is Jennifer Garner? Is God
trying to fix you up with someone?”

“No, I think He thinks I’m best suited for Thelma
Lou.”

“I don’t know if you’re best suited for anyone, but if
there is someone for you, it’s Thelma Lou.”

“Maybe this Garner dame is someone God wants to fix
you up with.”

“And maybe she was someone who was at the reunion who
saw someone close and lock the freezer door. We’ll see if anyone knows her. If
not, I’ll Google her when I get home. Maybe she was the homecoming queen at
County.”

Lou’s thoughts for the day appeared to be God’s subtle
influence in helping us solve each case. Occasionally, the clues were easy to
figure out, but sometimes they were tough. This was a tough one for me. All I
know is that each time someone is murdered Lou always gets a thought that has
something to do with the murder. I call them his messages from God, even though
Lou hears no voice.

I thought about who this mystery woman was until Lou
changed the subject to the Wii, a word I used to detest. He inquired about what
exercises I’d done that morning, and how much weight I’d lost. I actually
beamed when I told him I’d lost another four-tenths of a pound. Had the Wii or
my new diet taken over my brain?

+++

It was only our second day on this case, so I had to
tug hard on the wheel to keep Lightning from turning toward the Blue Moon after
I picked up Lou.

“According to Frank, Rose Ellen Calvert works at the
library. They’ve been open for a few minutes. What say we drop by the library
and pay her a visit?”

“As you wish Ol’ Getting Skinny One.”

“Remember not to say anything to anyone else.”

“Oh, from what I heard, the guys downtown already know
about it.”

“They don’t know about my new eating regimen and my
Wii Fit, do they?”

“I don’t think so. I know I haven’t said anything.”

+++

We arrived at the library. I hoped they had some place
where we could talk to Rose Ellen Calvert without everyone hearing what I had
to say. Maybe some place in the library where I wouldn’t have to be quiet, and
no one would know what we talked about. As it turned out, it didn’t matter.
Miss Calvert was off that day, so I perused my notes and found her home
address. She lived just around the corner from the library.

I drove around the corner and parked. We could have
walked from the library, but I prefer to get my exercise in the air-conditioned
confines of my home. We pulled up in front of a modest brick home, got out of
the car, looked at the house, and wondered if someone was looking back at us. I
went up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later, a plain-looking woman
answered the door. She was on the slender side, and on second glance, you could
tell that she could have looked a lot better if she had done something with
herself, like change her hairstyle and wear some make-up. But then who am I to
tell people how they should look? Still, I couldn’t help but think that if
she’d change her wardrobe, fix her hair differently, wore some makeup, and
traded her ugly looking glasses for a pair or contacts, she might have been
worth looking at, even if she still didn’t come up to Wonder Woman status.

“Are you Miss Calvert, Miss Rose Ellen Calvert?”

“That’s right, and you are…?”

“I’m Lt. Dekker. This is Sgt. Murdock. We’re with the
Hilldale Police Department.”

“Are you collecting for the policeman’s ball or
something?”

I wanted to tell her I collect only for the Cy Dekker
fund, but I refrained, and gave her a simple “no.”

“Have I done something wrong, Lieutenant?”

“I don’t know. Do you have a book overdue at the
library?”

“I happen to work at the library. I would never have
an overdue book.”

“I know that, about your working at the library, I
mean. We stopped by there first and found out that this is your day off.”

“But I still don’t understand why you want to see me.”

“It’s about the high school reunion.”

“Oh, I see. Does this have to do with Jimmy Conkwright
and Betty Gail Spencer?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, everyone knows that they’ve been missing since
that night. Did you find them? Are they dead? I mean they left drunk. Were they
in a wreck? Of course, if they were, it looks like someone would have found
Jimmy’s car by now, unless they crashed into the river. Is that what happened?”

“I’m afraid not, Miss Calvert. May we step in for a
few minutes? I want to see what you can tell me about that night.”

“Sure, I’m sorry. Where are my manners?”

I wondered why the woman guessed that we were there
about Conkwright and Mrs. Spencer, and why she guessed that Conkwright’s car
had crashed into the river. It was possible that only one person knew where
Conkwright’s car is. Could it be that that one person is Rose Ellen Calvert?

Just inside the front door, past a small coat closet,
was the living room. The librarian motioned for us to have a seat. I waited
until she too had sat down before I questioned her anymore.

“Miss Calvert, we’re trying to put together all that
happened that night. I’d like for you to tell us everything that happened,
beginning with when you arrived at the school.”

“You act as if they were murdered. They weren’t
murdered were they? Where did you find them, anyway?”

“We’ll get to that in a moment. Now, just start at the
beginning, as if you were giving a book report.”

She smiled, nervously, and then began.

“Well, I arrived at the school just before 5:00. For a while I thought I would have to drive out there in the storm, but it quit
raining at my house a little after 4:30. Evidently it quit at the school just
before I got there. I saw all kinds of leaves and downed tree branches as I
drove out. Luckily, there was nothing blocking the road. When I got there, the
janitor was there. He let me in. A couple of people were coming to help me set
up.

“The festivities began with a tour of our old school.
Someone suggested that we walk down the halls where we once walked, relive old
memories, and go in some our of old classrooms, if that was allowed.”

“And did you do that?”

“We did. Only about half of the group showed up for
that, but that was fine with me. Some of the guys started bragging about some
of the things they did in high school, and some of the ex-cheerleaders started
talking about what fun it was to be a cheerleader, and when we went into one of
our old classrooms, someone said, ‘Let’s find our old seats,’ so we did. Some
people remembered where they sat, others guessed. The guys sat down and
slouched like they used to do, and one by one we started reliving memories,
telling stories about each teacher or someone in the class. Most of the others
liked doing that better than I did.

“I excused myself at 6:30. The janitor was up there to keep an eye on things, and he said he would lock up. When I left, he was
leaning against a wall halfway down the hall, so as not to disturb us. See, we
were to begin with dinner at 7:00. The dinner was being catered, and I wanted
to be downstairs when the caterer arrived. She arrived on time, and went about
her job.”

I made a note that the janitor had neglected to tell
me anything about a caterer, but then he was upstairs when the caterer arrived.

“Go on.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell, early on. Nothing
seemed out of sorts. Well, nothing until Jimmy Conkwright arrived. Jim Bob
Gibbons went over to Jimmy, and I overheard him say, ‘No funny stuff tonight, Jimmy.’
Jimmy just nodded and smiled. I knew Jimmy had a reputation for drinking, so I
looked him over good. I couldn’t see where he had a bottle of anything on him.
At least not then.

“Well, it wasn’t ten minutes before Jimmy started
hitting on some of the women. It didn’t matter if their husbands were there, or
not. A couple of times Jim Bob had to break up a fight, just before it was
about to start.”