Authors: Erika Chase
Lizzie had a quick shower then fed the cats before getting ready. She did her makeup,
slid the dress on over her head, fixed her hair and pulled the sandals out of the
closet.
The doorbell rang at precisely six and she ran downstairs, shoes in hand. She put
them on before opening the door.
Mark stood there, all dressed in a dark suit and light blue shirt. No tie. He grinned
when he saw what she was wearing.
“Craig told me what she’d done and I told them all I was pulling rank, so I’m your
escort.”
She stepped aside so he could come in. “You’re not upset with her?”
“Hell, no. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get dates included without stepping
on anyone’s toes. She’s found the perfect way. There’s no going back now. Shall we
go?”
She grabbed her jacket and he helped her with it then turned her around in his arms
and gave her a deep, long kiss. No doubt in her mind he wasn’t upset.
Chapter Thirty-four
Old sins cast long shadows.
HALLOWE’EN PARTY
—AGATHA CHRISTIE
L
izzie woke on Sunday morning feeling extremely contented. The evening had been almost
perfect. She’d enjoyed the good food, the camaraderie among the staff, and Mark’s
attentions even though he had to dance at least once with all the females from the
department. She even enjoyed the little game one of the office clerks had devised
to give out small presents to everyone. She’d been happy with the singing angel tree
ornament while Mark had gotten a key chain shaped like a pair of miniature handcuffs.
All thoughts of the horror of the past couple of weeks disappeared and the officers
enjoyed a well-deserved diversion.
Mark had been almost reluctant to leave her at the door but Patchett needed walking,
and although Lizzie volunteered to help, she wasn’t really dressed for it.
She plotted her day as she pulled the Sunday edition of the
Birmingham News
out of the mailbox and made herself a cup of espresso. Carrying both, she headed
back to bed and stayed there for another couple of hours.
It was hunger pangs that drove her down to the kitchen. She thought about waffles
and froze as she revisited the events of the previous Sunday. She shook her head to
clear the unwanted memories and opted for a poached egg on toast instead.
After breakfast, she played with the cats until they lost interest and needed refueling
at their dishes, then she ran the vacuum through the house before showering and getting
ready to visit her mama. She drove into the parking lot of Magnolia Manor at one
P.M.
, just when the residents would be heading back to their rooms or into the spacious
great room after lunch. Her mama sat alone in the sunroom at the end of the hall,
clutching the cockatoo, her eyes closed.
Lizzie greeted her and pulled a chair close to her. She put her hand on her mama’s
and sat quietly, staring outside at the spacious green lawn, at the wooden pergola
covered with butter bean vines and the hedge with the winterberry shrubs. After about
twenty minutes, Evelyn Turner stirred enough to snap Lizzie to attention.
Evelyn held the cockatoo up to the window and smiled as the light played off it. She
then reached out for Lizzie’s hand and squeezed it. Lizzie thought her heart would
burst.
“I’m so very glad you like it, Mama. Do you know, it’s Christmas next weekend. Sunday,
as a matter of fact. I’ll be stopping in on Saturday before I go to sing at the late
service at St. John’s Episcopal Church and then I’ll come by Sunday morning and we
can unwrap gifts together, okay?”
Evelyn whispered, “Okay.”
Lizzie almost forgot about the new gift she’d brought until it was time to leave.
She handed over the gift bag and waited while her mama pulled out a snow globe with
a couple of carolers dressed in eighteenth-century costumes in its center. “This can
sit beside your Christmas tree.”
They walked back to Evelyn’s room and set the snow globe on the bureau beside the
small ceramic tree. Lizzie reached into the bottom drawer and brought out a small
gift box, dressed up with wrapping paper, which held the tiny lights. They inserted
them together, a ritual they’d had since Evelyn had lived at Magnolia Manor. Evelyn
then turned her chair facing the tree and she sat down looking toward it. Lizzie gave
her a kiss and said good-bye. She waved at a couple of residents who were walking
together arm in arm along the hall toward her. On the drive home, the sun slid behind
some clouds and Lizzie wondered if rain showers might be in the forecast but she made
it home and it was still dry.
Lizzie noticed the car parked in front of her house as she pulled into her driveway.
Officer Yost noticed it, too, and was out of his car, at the driver’s window, when
Lizzie approached.
“Ma’am, this woman’s name is Vanda Striker. Do you know her?”
“Yes, Officer. We work together.”
He passed Vanda’s driver’s license back to her, touched the tip of his hat and went
back to his car. Vanda exited hers and turned to Lizzie.
“I’m sorry to bother you and oh my, I’d forgotten all about your protective detail
here. I just wanted to talk, if you had some time.” Vanda looked so forlorn, Lizzie
was glad she didn’t have anything planned.
“Come on in, Vanda. I’ll make us some tea and we can sit and talk.”
“I first of all wanted to thank you for all you did on Friday,” Vanda said as they
sat in the living room. “I should have done it then but I just felt I needed to leave.
But you really did carry the whole thing, despite that costume.” She gave a small
laugh.
Lizzie nodded but didn’t interrupt.
“And, I’m sorry for that outburst. It’s not like I go around telling everyone the
horrid details of my life. But it just came out. I guess because I was still so much
in shock.”
“And are you feeling any better now?”
“It’s hard to tell. I don’t know what ‘better’ feels like but I’m accepting of it.
It just came as such a shock. After thirty-five years he up and tells me there’s someone
else, someone younger, and our marriage is over. I didn’t have a clue that was coming.
Guess I’ve just had my head buried in work so long now.” She took a deep breath and
straightened her shoulders.
“I will be okay, though. I’m strong. I didn’t make VP in the school system by just
waiting for opportunities.”
Lizzie was happy to hear that because she’d been feeling like a louse, thinking about
asking Vanda about Derek, but she had to take this opportunity. Vanda had asked about
him, but did she know his real identity?
“Vanda, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through but I do know you are a remarkable
woman and I believe you will make it come out right.” She sipped her tea. “I’m sorry
to ask you this now but how well did you know Harvey Warren?”
Vanda looked totally shocked. She seemed at a loss for an answer but finally replied,
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.” She grabbed her handbag that she’d set
down on the floor and stood. “I really should be running along now. I’m sorry I just
burst in on you but thank you for letting me talk. I don’t have many girlfriends but
I guess I might need to cultivate some in the future. I should get going.”
Lizzie had a quick flash on a girls’ night out with Vanda, and quickly dismissed it.
She respected her as a colleague and even liked her but doubted they had much in common
besides work. And perhaps, Derek Alton.
Chapter Thirty-five
It’s possible to solve a mystery and still not know all the answers.
SPANISH DAGGER
—SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT
T
he final two days before Christmas vacation. Lizzie felt like cheering as she got
ready to go in to work the next morning. Not that she disliked her job; she just felt
so in need of a total break for a while. Two weeks less a day would be great!
She glanced in Vanda’s office but the lights were off so she went to the staff room
only to be greeted with congratulations and thanks from the various teachers grabbing
their morning coffee. The school sounded strangely silent without the students. It
was as if the building itself took a deep breath and settled peacefully for the break.
Sally-Jo rushed in and headed straight for the coffeepot. “Morning, Lizzie. I am so
deliriously thankful only two more days of work. Outside the house, that is.”
Lizzie leaned against the counter and sipped her coffee. “Did you spend the entire
weekend getting ready for your guests?”
“Yesterday was the great house decorating marathon. You don’t know my family, Lizzie.
If I don’t have every speck of space decorated, I’ll be in for lectures galore about
a traditional Baker Christmas. I spent a small fortune at Clifford’s Home Hardware
for stuff I’ll probably never use again.”
“Until the next time they all descend on you.”
“Wash your mouth out, Lizzie Turner! But you’re right. I’ll invest in some large plastic
storage bins in the New Year and tuck them away. Fortunately, Jacob came over and
helped me pick out a tree and actually get it up.”
“Are you going to introduce him to your family?”
Sally-Jo grimaced. “I hate to turn them loose on him, especially since, though separated
from his wife, he’s still married. Who knows how much they’ll embarrass him and me.
But they need to know about him.”
“Uh-huh. That sounds promising.”
Sally-Jo’s cheeks colored slightly. “Yes. Now, I’d better get started on my paperwork
or I’ll be in here all week. Why don’t you drop by tonight if you’re not doing anything?”
“What, you have more decorating to do?”
“You’ll see.”
Sally-Jo squeezed by Ellen Germain in the doorway. Ellen looked around the room before
helping herself to some coffee. She moved next to Lizzie.
“Could we take a walk?” Ellen suggested. “I really do need to talk to you.”
Lizzie agreed, hoping she wasn’t having more trouble with those twins in her fifth-grade
class, and grabbed a jacket. “Oh, oh,” she said when they were outside. “I’d forgotten
about my shadow. We’ll be tailed by the police but try to ignore them.”
“The police.” Ellen shuddered and glanced nervously at the cruiser. “I’ve already
had a visit from them. I’m thinking it was either Sally-Jo or you who told them about
me being at the college where Derek Alton taught.”
It wasn’t a question but Lizzie felt compelled to answer. “It was me. You must know
they’re looking at every connection from his past.”
Ellen turned right when they reached the sidewalk and set a fast pace. “I know. I’m
not blaming you. I just wondered if you knew anything about the investigation?”
“Do you have something to worry about, Ellen?”
Ellen took a deep breath but continued walking, looking straight ahead. Lizzie didn’t
like to pry, but after all, Ellen had initiated this talk.
“Did you have an affair with him?”
Ellen stumbled but quickly recovered and kept walking. At the end of the block she
abruptly stopped and looked back toward the school. “They’ll find out, won’t they?”
“Who?”
“The police. They’ll just keep on digging and then it will become public knowledge
and everything will be ruined.”
“I don’t know what to say, Ellen.”
Ellen took a deep breath. “I was in his class and we did have an affair.” She started
walking again. “He took pictures and videos.”
Lizzie hadn’t expected to hear that. She was flabbergasted.
“And,” Ellen stopped walking again but continued staring ahead, “he was blackmailing
me.”
“What?”
Ellen turned to Lizzie, a frantic look on her face. “He saw my wedding picture in
the paper. My husband’s family is well-known there and has money. Derek contacted
me and said he hated to do it, but he was desperately in need of money. I had no choice.
If I didn’t pay him . . . well, you can imagine. When my husband was transferred to
Montgomery I thought it would just end but Derek kept tabs on us and I continued paying.”
“Did you see him while he was here?”
She nodded. “Yes. That was part of the reason he came. I’d told him I’d had enough.
I was tired of living a lie and trying to cover up where the money was going.”
“What happened?”
“He said I’d be fired after the pictures got out. And my husband would leave me. But
I’d made up my mind. He came to town to convince me in person to keep on paying.”
She started crying. Lizzie put an arm around her shoulders.
“But why would he do that? Was he really that much in need of the money?”
“Why? Because he was spiteful. Because I threatened to turn him in to the police.
I guess that’s what really pushed him. But I didn’t kill him, I swear.”
Lizzie wasn’t sure what to do with the information. She wished she didn’t know it.
But she did. And Mark needed to know. Even though it would catapult Ellen to the top
of the suspect list.
“Where were you when Derek was killed?”
Ellen sobbed. “I’d taken the day off. I’d been so upset from talking to him the night
before. I spent most of it in bed, hiding, and then later in the day I went for a
long walk through Glendale Park.”
“Did anyone see you?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to tell the police, Ellen. They need to hear your
story even though it looks bad. You know that, don’t you?”
Ellen nodded through her tears.
“I promise I’ll try to help in any way I can. I believe you didn’t kill him and I’m
going to find out who did. Let’s go back and wait for Chief Dreyfus.” She called Mark
on her cell phone as they headed back to the school. She wanted him to be the one
to hear the story.
* * *
M
ark came back into the school after seeing Ellen seated in the back of the cruiser
and driven off to the station by Officer Yost. Lizzie waited in the staff room.
“I know it looks bad for her,” she said before he could speak, “but I don’t think
she’s the killer.”
Mark looked amused. “No? Why not?”
“She’s too emotional to plan a cold-blooded killing. She’s the type who might pick
up a butcher knife and stab him in the kitchen during a fight but I really can’t see
her plotting to shoot him. And where would she get the rifle?”
“It’s not so hard to do when you’re desperate. I’ll have to look deeper into her background.
Maybe Ellen Germain was a markswoman or maybe she used to go hunting every weekend
with her daddy. It’s not inconceivable.”
“Okay, I will keep quiet on the topic. But after all, Derek was playing around with
quite a few of Ashton Corners’s females. Xenia Henshaw confirmed he’d been fooling
around during their marriage.”
“Was this before or after the cookies? I thought I’d asked you to stay out of it.”
She decided to ignore that. “Speaking of cookies, have you gotten an analysis back
yet?”
He shook his head. “Do you have any information that Derek might have been blackmailing
someone else, too?
“No, but maybe one of the women?”
“These anonymous women whom I may not be able to trace?”
“Yes. Them.” Lizzie leaned back against a table. She’d not told him about Nola Trendy
and was still hoping she wouldn’t have to. “On another topic, do you think you could
drop the ghost detail? I really don’t think I’m in any danger. I’m certain that shot
was either a random sniper or meant to divert you in the investigation.”
“Random sniper? We have those in Ashton Corners? And what makes you so sure you weren’t
the real target?”
“Because there hasn’t been another attempt. There have been opportunities, even with
that cruiser on my tail. If someone were dying to kill me, so to speak, it would have
happened by now. Don’t you think?”
Mark appeared to be thinking it over. “I don’t like it but you may have a point. And,
I can make use of my officers in other ways.” He looked intently at her a moment.
“It’s done if you agree to certain things.”
“Such as?” she asked warily.
“No active searching for the killer.”
“And what would passive searching be?”
“Internet, phone calls . . . just try not to make yourself a visible target. And,
secondly, I want to be kept in the loop about any passive searches. I want a list
of who you’ve spoken to, searched for on Google, asked questions about . . . everything.
And I want a report each day, end of day.”
“How end of day?”
He sighed. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
“I just want to make sure I understand you so that I won’t be accused of not going
along with the agreement.”
“Five
P.M.
every day.”
“Agreed.”
“I’ll go have a longer chat with Ms. Germain now.”
“You’ll let me know how that goes?”
“As much as I can, you know that, Lizzie. I’ll be in touch.” He gave her arm a squeeze
and left her there to put together a plan for passive investigation.