A Candidate For Murder (Old Maids of Mercer Island Mysteries Book 2) (14 page)

I slow-walked out of City Hall in a virtual daze. Even the incessant drizzle of rain that threatened to flatten my hair wasn’t enough to make me pop open my umbrella; I had too much on my mind. The man I had just nominated to be our next mayor had been arrested for Trudy Bascom’s murder.

I made it to the car, got in, and sat there in stunned silence. Tony Morales had fought for his country, been injured, earned a Purple Heart, and come home a hero. Even though the military had taught him
how
to kill, I couldn’t imagine he could brutally murder someone. That took a different kind of person.

I pulled out my cell phone and called Doe to relate the news, but she’d already heard it from her niece, Kayla, who worked in the mayor’s office.

“They must’ve had a good reason for arresting him, Julia,” Doe said.

“David said that it was someone from Tony’s IP address that hacked my email. They believe it’s Tony. I just can’t believe that,” I said. “Tony is my friend. Why would he willingly implicate me in a murder?”

“To save himself,” Doe retorted. “That’s what murderers do.”

“David also said they found the murder weapon in Tony’s garage.”

“He didn’t say what it was?” Doe asked.

“No. But, God, Tony just told me that he grew up in the construction trade and that he used to be good with a hammer.”

“Well, I have other news about Tony,” Doe said.

The doomsday tone of her voice forced my heart rate to speed up. “What is it?”

“Kayla said she overheard an argument between the mayor and Tony last week. Something having to do with Trudy.”

I exhaled. “Trudy?”

“She didn’t hear much. But she said it sounded like the mayor was chewing Tony out for using Trudy to spy on Dana.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” I said. “Why in the world would he want to spy on Dana?”

“Maybe for the same reason he’d want her dead,” Doe said. “You may have to accept this, Julia.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. “I’m not giving in yet. Did you find out anything more about Cora Blankenship?”

“Blair said that Cora’s assistant is in her yoga class. She’s going to try and pump her for information tomorrow.”

“We have to find something. I don’t think it’s Tony; there’s just no reason. Although, come to think of it, Dana has openly challenged him multiple times at City Council meetings on everything from the city budget to certain contracts.”

“You’re rambling, Julia,” Doe said.

I sighed. “I know. I’m upset. Okay, well, I have to stop at the store, and then I’m going to head home. When is Rudy going to Vancouver?”

“Tomorrow morning,” she replied.

“Then let’s all get together at the Inn tomorrow night. I’ll make a big pot of minestrone soup.”

“Sounds wonderful. I’m going to do some checking on that Eloise Radle, just in case. I have some contacts downtown. Maybe I can find something out.”

I left city hall and headed toward the Albertson’s store downtown. At the last minute, I passed right by the store and decided to make a slight detour to SE 27
th
, where the Finkle Collection Agency was located next to Starbucks. Clay Finkle was just coming out to his car. I quickly pulled to the curb, honked my horn and rolled down my window.

“Hi Clay!” I waved my hand. He turned toward me, squinting through his glasses. “It’s Julia. Do you have a minute?”

He threw something onto the front seat of his Saab and closed the door. Clay was a finicky guy and hurried over, holding a notepad over his head. I couldn’t imagine why. His gray hair was cut so close it looked like a second skin, and he was wearing a rain coat.

“Hello, Julia. What’s up?” he said, leaning over my window.

His long nose protruded through the open window and his bottle-lens glasses made his brown eyes as big as saucers.

“I was wondering how Dana is doing,” I lied, leaning away from him. I wondered if he even knew we were helping her with the investigation.

“She’s nervous,” he said. “Who wouldn’t be? This is all a nightmare. And I have to go out of town soon, so I hope they find the son-of-a-bitch.”

“Out of town, really? You’d leave her all alone?”

“I don’t have a choice,” he said, his brown eyes blinking behind those bottle glasses. “I’m closing a deal at the end of the week for a new office up in Bellingham. I told her she could go with me, but she refused.  She said she’d be a sitting duck up there, without any protection. I guess it will be okay. The police have added extra patrols around the house, and she’s going to have someone come stay with her.”

“Well, you must have added security, too,” I said.

He nodded, making his enormous eyes bob up and down. It gave me a headache.

“Yes. We’re having the whole alarm system upgraded,” he said. “But Dana is stubborn, you know. I offered to hire a detective, but she won’t accept any help from me.”

His face had flushed, and I wondered if he knew Dana was thinking of divorcing him. I contemplated broaching the subject, but decided against it.

“Maybe you should get a gun,” I suggested, knowing full-well they already had one.

“We
had
a gun,” he said. “Actually two of them.”

“Had?”

“Someone stole them. I reported it to the police this morning.” He sighed and shook his head. “Anyway, thanks for asking, Julia. I know you haven’t been the best of friends.”

I smiled. “I suppose that’s an understatement. But I hope she stays safe.”

I was about to say something about Tony’s arrest, but decided against that, too. The police would let them know soon enough. I waved goodbye as he ran back to the car.

I pulled away from the curb and wound my way back to the store. I meandered up and down the aisles throwing a few things into my cart, my mind a million miles away. I ambled over to the produce section and stopped to study the lettuce. I have to admit that my eyes had glazed over somewhere between the iceberg and the romaine, until I heard Tony’s name mentioned. I snapped to attention and looked up. Two women were huddled up on the other side of the produce bin, their carts nose to nose.

“I know why they arrested him,” a tall brunette said. “There’s some big secret about his wife.”

“Really?” a short blond replied. “Like what? She’s so prim and proper.”

“I don’t know,” the brunette replied, glancing around at me.

I reached out past the lettuce and grabbed a tomato, pretending to study it for bruises. I was surprised the gossip tree on the island had operated so quickly and efficiently. But then I remembered that the town’s lead gossiper was Lizzy Forney, the receptionist at City Hall.

“Trudy told me not too long ago that Dana had something spectacular on Tony Morales’ wife that could end his career,” the brunette said with a conspiratorial nod.

“And now Trudy is dead,” the other woman said.

She pressed her lips together in an ugly grimace, but the enthusiasm with which she spoke betrayed any compassion she felt for the dead woman.

“Yes, but didn’t you know? Trudy was killed by mistake. Whoever killed Trudy meant to kill Dana.”

The blond woman gasped, just as two children ran up screaming at each other over something. The conversation ended. The women said goodbye and took off in different directions.

I looked down and frowned at the tomato in my hand. Someone had pressed two fingerprints into it. I put it back, and then I took a turn around the store to finish my shopping.

On the way home, my brain was a-buzz with a myriad of thoughts. Dana Finkle apparently had something on Tony’s wife. That was just like her. She would dig up dirt and use it against people, especially in her lawsuits. If Tony
had
tried to kill her, maybe that was the reason why. It would have to be something pretty spectacular to actually threaten his career; after all, politicians kept their jobs these days after being accused for all sorts of crimes. Perhaps that was also why Tony was asking Trudy to spy on Dana.

Oh dear,
I thought.
This was getting complicated.
Tony had a reason to want Dana dead. Clay had a reason to want her dead. Eloise Radle had a reason. And so did half a dozen others who Dana had sued. Including me.

By the time I returned to the Inn, I was exhausted and longed for a nap. Then I saw Blair’s car in the driveway. She was in the breakfast room waiting for me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“I just talked to Mr. Billings, and he told me something very interesting,” she said with a knowing smile.

“Your husband has a first name, you know,” I said. “What do you call him at home?”

She smiled. “Honey.”

I sighed. “Well, follow me to the apartment so I can put this stuff away.”

We traipsed down the hallway and into my small apartment kitchen. While I put away my few groceries, she continued.

“You know Mr. Billings takes all his cars to Emory’s Auto Shop in Bellevue. Well, he was in there this morning and came back talking about one of the guys who looks like he’s had his face rearranged. I guess he has a bandage across his nose, and his face is scratched up pretty badly.”

“Really? How tall is he?”

Blair shrugged. “I have no idea. Does that make a difference? I thought you didn’t get a look at the guy who attacked you.”

“I didn’t. But I’ve been thinking a lot about him. I kept bumping up against his chin, as if I fit right underneath it. And I remember his arms around me. They were thick and heavy. It was like being hugged by a bear.” I put a carton of milk away as I said this last part.

“You want to go take a look?” Blair asked. Her pretty blue eyes were alight with youthful enthusiasm.

Blair’s love for adventure was one of the things I liked best about her. On the other hand, she had a tendency to throw caution to the wind, and that made me nervous.

“Sure,” I replied with just a slight hesitation. “But what’s our excuse?”

Blair smiled, put a hand on her hip and gave me one of her, ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ looks.

“Of course,” I said. “It’s a business filled with men. What was I thinking?”

She smiled appreciatively. “Let’s go. I’ll drive.”

I always hesitated getting in a car with Blair. She’d once been married to a racecar driver. While I imagine that she taught him how things moved in the bedroom, he taught her the finer points about how cars moved on the road. It was enough to make my stomach turn.

“Let me check in quickly with April, and I’m all yours,” I said.

April was in the bakery with her hands wrist deep in bread dough.

“David called,” she said when I popped in. “I don’t know what it was about, but he wanted you to call him.”

I frowned. “I just saw him at City Hall. He arrested Tony Morales.”

April stopped kneading the dough. “What for?”

I related the story about Tony’s arrest. “But I’m having a hard time believing it,” I said. “If someone could hack my emails, what’s to stop someone from doing the same thing to Tony?”

“Nothing,” April said with a shrug. “This sounds like it’s going to get more complicated before it’s over, though.”

I pulled my phone from my purse, clicked the button and frowned. “My phone is dead. I guess that’s why David called you. I’ll call him back later. Besides, I don’t want him asking questions right now.”

April’s eyebrows arched. “What do you mean? Stealing Dana’s trash wasn’t enough?”

I shifted my weight awkwardly. “Blair and I are just taking a little trip to Bellevue.”

April pulled in her chin. “You know,” she said. “You’ve just barely healed from a car accident. And as I recall, Blair was driving then, too. Tell her to take it easy.”

The memory of the night Blair and I were fleeing killers as they chased us in a Hummer was never far from my mind. I’d had several nightmares about it, especially the moment we’d gotten sideswiped by a bunch of kids out joy-riding. That had put us both in the hospital.

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to check something out.”

“Does this have anything to do with Dana?”

I couldn’t very well lie to April. I never could. She knows too much. With her sixth sense, she’s like a truth-o- meter.

“I’m not sure. But it
is
about Ahab.”

“Do you know where he is?” she asked. Her dark eyes flashed with hope.

My shoulders slumped. “No. But we may have a lead on the guy who took him.”

She straightened up and stood back from the table a moment. “Julia,” she said. “Don’t do anything rash. This guy could have killed you.”

“I know that. We’re just going to try to get a look at him. He works in Bellevue.”

April wiped her hands on a towel and reached into her pocket. She pulled out her cell phone.

“Here,” she said. “Take my phone. Just in case. Give me yours and I’ll charge it.”

These were cell phones paid for by the Inn, so they were duplicates. We switched phones.