A Candidate For Murder (Old Maids of Mercer Island Mysteries Book 2) (25 page)

April smiled. “Thanks. I think.”

“You still didn’t tell me what ‘Mama Bear’ means,” Rudy said, drawing her thin lips into a frown.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Blair said to her.

“Listen,” I said, hoping to deflect the argument I saw coming. “I have news. The detectives were here this morning. Al Dente was murdered yesterday.”

Everyone wheeled around in my direction. “Well, that’s a bombshell,” Rudy said. “You didn’t think a phone call was in order?”

“Sorry, we’ve been too busy today, and we just heard about it this morning. It happened sometime
after
we were shot at yesterday. But not only that, they’ve ID’d Dana’s ex-husband. He’s staying in town.”

“Wow,” Blair exclaimed. “So he could be the culprit. Does Dana know?”

“Yes,” I said, giving Blair a sobering look. “And she’s been even more nervous all day because of it. Besides that, Clay is up in Bellingham and not due back until tomorrow, so I’d watch your step around her.”

“Do the police think the ex-husband is behind all of this?” Doe asked.

“They said they’re keeping their options open. I take that to mean that even Tony isn’t off their radar yet.”

“Speaking of,” Rudy said. “Is he coming tonight?”

“No. He called and begged off. He was afraid he’d be too much of a distraction.”

“Makes sense,” Rudy said, reaching for a black olive. “I’m just sorry to see his entire life rearranged because of this.”

“Me too. The sooner the killer is caught, the better,” I responded.

The kitchen door swung open and Jason walked in. “We’re all set up,” he announced.

I took a moment to introduce the ladies. A moment later, Willow came in to join us.

“I’ve heard all about you,” Jason said appreciatively, extending his enormous hand to Blair. “Especially you, Mrs. Wentworth,” he said, lingering on Blair. “I understand you’re quite the race car driver.”

Blair expected compliments, and so her reactions were usually manufactured. In response to Jason’s remark, she dipped her chin, tilted her head to the side and said, “Fast cars and fast men. That’s my style, Mr. Spears.”

He laughed heartily. “Well, hopefully, tonight it will be fast
ghosts
.”

“Do you really expect the ghosts to appear?” she asked almost shyly.

“I certainly hope so. In any case, we’re ready for them if they do. This is my wife, Willow,” he said, drawing her forward. “If they’re here, she’ll know it.”

“Did you know that April also has the…” Blair began.

“Let’s get out there to meet our guests,” I said, interrupting her. I shot April a glance, and she mouthed ‘thank you’ as I ushered everyone out.

We caught Dana at the food table, stuffing one of the eyeballs into her mouth. Blair cringed and said, “Ick, how can you eat that?”

Dana frowned at her. “It’s just a deviled egg. They’re really good.”

Blair stared down at the plate of halved eggs that were filled with a green egg mixture, topped with a sliced black olive and finished off with red squiggly lines across the egg white to resemble bloodshot eyes.

Blair made a sour face. “I couldn’t eat something that was looking back at me.” She reached for a carrot stick instead.

Jason and Willow had gone back into the living room, so Rudy sidled up to me. “So, the guy who stole Ahab is dead? And the police think Dana’s ex-dead-husband hired him?”

“It’s a working theory,” I confirmed.

“I think that would be dead ex-husband,” Blair corrected Rudy from across the table.

Rudy shot her an irritated look. “Well, apparently he’s not so dead anymore.”

Dana looked up with a bleak expression, a greasy chicken wing in her hand and barbeque sauce lathered on her lower lip. “I should’ve known that one day he’d come back.”

“Dana, the problem is that there are too many reasons why someone would want you dead,” Rudy said.

“Yeah, who could keep track?” Blair murmured under her breath.

Dana had lost all of her bluster by this time and merely bowed her head in defeat.

“Is that why you kept the pictures, Dana?” I asked. “Because you thought he’d come back someday?”

“Yes. It was my insurance, just in case. He was a mean son-of-a-bitch. Whether you believe me or not, what I did in Vancouver, I did out of fear.”

“Unfortunately, I have a feeling this still goes back to those boys, Dana,” I said. “Have you ever seen any of them since then?”

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “Once the rumors began, the boys were taken from us and given to other fosters. I never saw any of them again. They were so young, I’m not sure I’d recognize any of them now, anyway.”

Her cell phone rang, and she switched the chicken wing into the other hand to answer it. “Yeah, hi, Clay,” she said. “No, I’m fine. What?”

She turned away from us to take the call just as the front door opened and several members of the library board came in.

“I have to go greet people,” I said to the girls.

I turned and moved into the entryway to grab people’s coats and take them into the library. When I came back, I introduced Jason and Willow. Angela came down the hall from the apartment, dressed in black slacks and a sequined jean jacket. Just as I was about to introduce her to the president of the library board, the door opened again and Roger Romero stepped through, followed by one of the bookstore owners.

“Julia,” Roger boomed. “I heard about your upstairs window last night. I warned you. We need to talk…”

“I want to kill Dana Finkle.” Squawk!

I whirled around to see Ahab was bouncing back and forth on his perch. Then I turned back to Roger,who seemed rooted in place, his facial features frozen. We stared at each other for a horrified moment.

Count to three.

Roger spun around to flee, but the front door slammed shut in his face. He grabbed the knob and twisted, but it wouldn’t budge. Panicked, he turned for the hallway, but Angela jumped in front of him, lifted her left leg and gave him a sharp kick to the solar plexus. He expelled a breath and flew backwards, landing in the electric chair with a thud.

“Damn, Angela!” Blair said with appreciation.

We formed a half circle around Roger, blocking his escape. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the guests flooded into the entryway behind us. Meanwhile, Roger sat plastered against the back of the electric chair, gasping for air, his bony features engraved with fear.

“Roger!” I cried. “How could you?”

He made a feeble attempt to rise, but Angela jumped forward in an attack pose, making him flinch back into the chair.

“Down, dear,” I said to my daughter. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere. Why don’t you call Detective Abrams?” Then I turned back to Roger. “Well?” I demanded.

“I…I’m not what you think, Julia. I didn’t kill anyone. Honest.”

“Then why did Ahab just repeat that line?” Blair asked, stepping forward with her hands on her hips.

“It’s true. I did say that in front of him,” he replied nervously.

“When?” Blair demanded.

He glanced sheepishly around at the other library board members, who were all staring at him with unabashed alarm.

“It was back when we had the library board meeting here in December. I took a phone call. A call from someone who was…who was blackmailing me.”

“Al Dente,” Angela said, putting her phone back into her pocket. “They’re on their way, Mom,” she said to me.

“Yes,” Roger agreed. “Dente approached me about five months ago to see if I would help him…dispose of Dana.”

“Why?” Dana screeched, stepping forward. “I don’t even know him.”

Roger looked up at her. “He said he was one of…one of your boys.”

There were a few intakes of breath. Roger looked suddenly old and haggard, as if years of hiding some terrible secret had finally released him from its destructive grasp.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” he said quietly to Dana. She studied his face a moment, and then haltingly shook her head. “My real name is Robert Goode. My brother was Marty.”

Dana’s stubby little hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she muttered.

She looked faint, and I pushed her toward the steamer chest and eased her down onto it. She sat there speechless.

“So you were one of her boys, too?” I said to Roger.

He nodded. “My brother and I lived there for almost a year. Marty was my older brother, by five years. He was one of her husband’s…favorites. In the end, Marty couldn’t take it anymore. He hung himself.”

More gasps.

“Good job, Dana,” Rudy said to her. “You’re two for two. Old Mr. Peabody and now Roger’s brother.”

Dana glanced up at Rudy, but didn’t say anything.

Roger wiped perspiration from his forehead and continued. “Anyway, Dente knew I’d lived there, too. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. He said he wanted revenge and thought I’d willingly go along with his plan. But when I said no, he threatened to tell everyone about my background and what her husband had done to me. But I still said no. You have to believe me.”

“Ahab doesn’t agree,” Blair said.

“That was actually the conversation when I said no to him. I told him that, yes, I wanted to kill Dana Finkle. But then I immediately said I couldn’t do it.”

“So did you arrange to have Ahab stolen?” I asked.

He was wringing his hands nervously. “After Trudy was killed, and it became public knowledge that Dana had actually been the target, my wife reminded me about what Ahab had said at the Christmas party. She had no idea it was me the bird was quoting, or that Dente was trying to blackmail me, but she wondered if it was a clue and if I should mention it to the police. I panicked and contacted Dente and told him we needed to get rid of the bird. He agreed on one condition – that I help him kill Dana.” Roger looked up at me. “I felt trapped, Julia. After all, the only person Ahab pointed to was me. I had to say yes.”

“Are you the one who shot at us?” Dana asked him.

“No. That was Dente.” He took a deep sigh, and I suspected an admission was coming. “But I put a tracking device on your car, Julia, and one on Dana’s. Dente had me follow you all to Renton yesterday. I called Dente when you left the restaurant and headed home. I knew Dana had left her car at the Inn, so you’d have to go back there first. And I could tell right when you’d be passing the Roanoke Inn. He was waiting for you.”

“And after he missed?” I pushed.

He slumped further into the electric chair. “I told him about the upstairs windows,” he said sullenly, dropping his head again. “But that failed, too.” He raised his eyes to me. “I tried to warn you about the windows, Julia,” he said. “I really didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

“You know Dente was found dead last night?” I said to him.

His body jolted as if the electric chair had sent a shock wave through him. “What? No. I didn’t kill him. Oh, God,” he whined, dropping his head into his hand. “This is a nightmare.”

The sound of sirens and a car sliding to a halt on the gravel outside made everyone glance out the sidelight window. A moment later the front door flew open and Detective Abrams and David came in. Two uniformed police officers followed behind them. They stopped mid-stride when they encountered the small crowd blocking the entryway.

We quickly explained the situation and they took over. David read Roger his Miranda rights and took him into custody. Just before they got Roger out the door in handcuffs, he turned to me.

“I didn’t kill anyone, Julia. You have to believe me. It wasn’t me.”

“Well, that put a damper on the festivities,” Blair lamented after they’d left. “The prospect of seeing a ghost now seems a little anticlimactic.”

“I need to go lie down,” Dana said. She got up and started for the apartment.

“But, Dana, my dogs are loose in there,” I said, moving to catch up with her.

She turned bleary eyes in my direction. “I don’t care.” And with that, she turned and disappeared down the hallway.

“I’ll go with her,” Angela said. “I’ll put your dogs in your bedroom, and then I’ll take Lucy with me. I think I ought to follow the guys down to the regional jail.”

“Okay, sweetheart. Thanks.”

After Angela left, I glanced into the breakfast room and saw April standing next to the kitchen door. She must have come in when she heard the sirens. She gave me a confirming nod and then stepped back through the swinging door.

I turned to the people filling the area by the front door. “The theatrics are over. Why don’t you all go in and enjoy some of April’s hors d’oeuvres? We still have ghosts to hunt.”

People shuffled off. Jason came up to me, his eyes alight with enthusiasm.

“Julia,” he began. “The door,” he said, nodding to the front door. “When that guy tried to run, it…uh…closed by itself.”

“That’s right,” I said without much energy.

“And there was no one there.”

“No.”

“So, it was…uh…”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“But who?”

“Chloe. She likes to do that.”

“Damn!” He stared at the door for a moment and then turned and nearly ran back into the living room yelling, “We have activity!”

Meanwhile, the party continued. As people milled around the food tables, the girls and I huddled up in the kitchen.

“So, now what?” Rudy said.

I plopped into a chair. “All I know is that I’m exhausted, and I wonder which one of those boys in the pictures was Roger.”

“Maybe none of them,” Doe said. “I doubt she kept pictures of
all
the kids.”

“It’s so sad,” I said with a sigh. “To start out your life like that, abused and humiliated, only to lose your brother and then get drawn into a murder plot.”

“He’s no angel, Julia,” Rudy said. “He could have stuck to his guns and said no.”

“So it’s all over,” Doe said with relief.

“Maybe not,” I said. “Roger said he didn’t kill anyone, and I believe him.”

“Yes, but it might have been Al Dente who killed Trudy and shot at
you
,” she said.

“True, but someone murdered
him
,” I replied.

“So there’s a third person out there,” Blair said. “I wonder who.”

“Maybe the ex-husband,” Rudy said. “They need to arrest him.”

“Dana’s not safe until they do,” Doe said. “I think they ought to take Dana into protective custody.”

“Or station an officer here again,” Rudy suggested.

“Hey, maybe David could come and stay,” Blair said.

I grimaced. “There’s no more room in my apartment,” I said.

She smiled wickedly. “Except for your king-sized bed.”

I sighed in exasperation. “You guys do realize that I have an inn full of people right now. This needs to end.”

The wind had kicked up outside and was slapping the branches of the flowering cherry tree against the windowpanes.

“C’mon,” Rudy said. “Let’s think this through logically. Up until now, this third guy has been completely in the shadows. There has to be a reason for that.”

“Right,” Doe agreed. “If it’s the ex-husband, he wants her dead in order to get his money back.”

“But…if he wants to get the money, he can’t be suspected of the crime,” Rudy said. “So he would
have
to remain invisible. That means he’s also not going to come here after Dana with guns blazing. It will have to be with stealth, like before.”

“So, what are you saying?” I asked her.

“You have Dana safely tucked away in your apartment. Why don’t we see if we can get the police to put a car at your back door and one at the front door? If we can, I’d call it good.”

“And if they won’t?” I asked.

Rudy looked around the table. “Then I guess we’re all moving in until they catch the son-of-a-bitch.”

“Hurray, another slumber party,” Blair said with a grin.