A Wedding and a Killing (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Murder.” David slammed his cell phone down on the kitchen counter in Spencer Manor before picking up his coffee mug. “The ME in Pennsylvania has already determined by the blood tests on Helga Thorpe that she had enough sleeping pills in her that she was completely unconscious before the carbon monoxide killed her.” He went to the coffee maker and filled his mug.

“Could she have taken them herself so that she’d be asleep when the carbon monoxide killed her?” Archie clutched her hot coffee mug in both hands.

“Wouldn’t that be double dipping?” Mac replied. “If she intended to kill herself, why not just let the overdose of sleeping pills kill her. Stringing that hose from the exhaust pipe and through the window—that had to be a lot of work.”

Thinking about her husband’s obvious hatred toward her, David said, “It isn’t like Sirrus was going to try to save her if she had simply taken a bottle of pills and laid down in bed.”

Each of them donning bathrobes and slippers, they stared straight ahead in deep thought. After getting back to Spencer Manor in the middle of the night, David and Mac had only slept a few hours before questions about Eugene Newton’s murder woke them up.

The only sound in the kitchen was Gnarly gulping his breakfast.

“Who would want to kill Helga Thorpe?” Archie asked.

“A lot of people,” David said. “Bogie found a ton of venomous emails on her laptop. How she ever found time to work for the sporting goods store, I don’t know. It’s like she managed the church’s rumor mill. She antagonized the children’s ministry director. She offended Carmine. She would send out and receive hundreds of emails a day—all griping and gossiping about the church and how it was run.”

“That’s what my mother hated about church,” Archie said. “Every one we ever went to, there was always one flock of gossipy old hens—”

“Isn’t that true of any place where you get a bunch of people together?” Mac took his and her mugs to the coffee maker for refills. “In the police department, there were some officers who were just as catty as a bunch of old church ladies. If you ask me, it’s the human condition—not confined to churches.”

“You’re right there,” she said.

Mac turned to David who was leaning against the kitchen counter. “What’s the estimated time of death?”

“Sometime Wednesday morning.”

Handing Archie her coffee mug, Mac slid into the chair next to her. “Okay, let’s think about this.”

“Sirrus claimed Helga had packed her bag and left early Wednesday morning when he was on his way out fishing,” David said.

“Fishing?” Mac repeated.

“Sirrus is a die-hard fisherman,” David said. “When I questioned him on Wednesday, he was very pleased because he had caught a twelve-pound largemouth bass that morning.”

“Did you see this fish?” Mac asked.

“No, but I guess I will,” David said. “He took it to the taxidermist. He wouldn’t have told me that if there wasn’t any. It’d be easy enough to check out.”

“Why don’t we call that taxidermist to see when Sirrus brought that fish in?” Mac asked.

“You always look to the spouse first,” Archie joked.

“I do that for a reason.”

“Sirrus has no motive to kill Eugene,” David said. “They did find Helga’s suitcase in the trunk of the car.”

“Why pack your bag to kill yourself?” Archie asked.

“What did she pack?” Mac asked.

“Huh?” David replied.

“Did the police send you an inventory of what they found in her suitcase?” Mac asked him.

“I’m sure they will.” Pondering Mac’s questions, David took a sip of his coffee.

“There are certain things that people will never leave on a trip without,” Mac said. “If we take a look at that list, we could determine if Helga had packed that suitcase or someone else—”

“Like her husband,” Archie said.

“Sirrus has good reason to kill Helga,” David said. “Just plain hatred. But he has no motive for killing Eugene Newton. As far as I can see, they had no connection. Sirrus does volunteer small jobs at the church, and seems to be very fond of the women there, but he doesn’t benefit from Eugene Newton’s death.”

As a thought came to his mind, he stood up straight from where he had been leaning against the counter. “Unless maybe he killed Eugene to frame Helga, with the intention of killing her and making it look like a suicide because she didn’t get away with Eugene’s murder … but I don’t think Sirrus is that diabolical.”

“I’m thinking about where the police found Helga’s car,” Mac said.

“On a rural country road two miles from Breezewood,” David said.

“An abandoned fishing pond,” Mac said.

“How did I miss that?” David muttered.

Smiling into his coffee, Mac asked, “What did you say?”

“Nothing,” David replied. “I grew up around here and I never knew about that pond.”

“You’re not a die-hard fisherman,” Mac said.

“But then there’s the logistics of getting back to Deep Creek Lake,” David said. “Breezewood is almost two hours away. The killer—”

“Probably Sirrus,” Archie said.

“—could have hitchhiked to Breezewood from the fishing pond, and then got a bus ticket to get back into our area.”

“Which tells me that this murder took a lot of planning,” Mac said. “More planning than Eugene’s murder.”

“Maybe Helga was the intended target all along,” Archie said.

“Which points to Sirrus Thorpe,” David said. “That man makes no secret about hating his wife.” He muttered, “I’d hate to be in that marriage.”

“But if Sirrus hated Helga enough to want her dead,” Archie asked, “why kill Eugene Newton?”

Mac suggested, “Why don’t we ask the reverend?”

Bogie met Mac, David, and Archie at Reverend Deborah Hess’s house, in the pastoral residence next to the church building. Archie had to keep a tight hold on Gnarly’s leash when he spotted a calico cat curled up on the bench on the rustic porch.

Completely uninterested in the dog, the cat remained curled up and ignored Gnarly, which perturbed him more than if the feline had hissed at him.

Clad in shorts and sandals, Deborah’s son Chase invited them inside the comfortable log home. Sliding glass doors opened up to a deck, off which was a dock. A group of young people were enjoying the sunny, summer day on the lake. Clad in a one-piece swimsuit, Natalie was one of the young ladies.

“Mom’s working on her sermon for Sunday.” Padding through the great room to the dining area, Chase yelled up into the loft. “Mom, the police are here to see you.” He turned back to them. “Do you know who killed Eugene yet?”

“That’s what we wanted to talk to your mother about,” David said.

“Man, the world sure has gone nuts,” Chase said. “Who would do that? Who would kill a nice guy like Eugene?”

“We’re trying to find that out,” David said.

“I promised your mother that we would find out who did this,” Bogie said, “and we intend to keep that promise.”

“I know, Bogie,” Chase said. “We’re all worried about what people are going to think about our church—two of our trustees dead. Natalie’s mom ended up being wanted for murder. Of course, people are going to find out about that.”

“But her name is cleared now,” Archie said.

“And now she’s getting married.” Natalie trotted in from outside. Her wide grin told everyone that she approved of her mother’s new husband-to-be. “I’m getting a new daddy.” Squealing when she said “daddy,” she hugged Chase.

“Only now I can’t just jog down the path to see Natalie,” Chase said. “They’re moving in with Carmine over in McHenry. I’m going to have to ride my bike all the way over to the other side of the lake.”

“A lot of lives are changing,” Deborah said as she came down the stairs from the loft. “It’s good to see some blessings coming from this tragedy.” The dark circles under her eyes betrayed the stress the murders had on the pastor.

After Chase and Natalie had gone outside to rejoin their friends, Deborah revealed that the phone had been ringing ever since the news hit about Helga Thorpe’s body being found in Pennsylvania. “But they aren’t saying if it was suicide or murder—only that her death is being investigated.”

With a sigh of exhaustion, she invited her guests to sit down in the living room. She took a seat next to the stone fireplace.

“It was murder,” David said. “Helga Thorpe had an alibi for the time of Eugene’s murder.”

“She was at a chiropractor’s office in Oakland,” Bogie said. “Her appointment was at twelve-thirty. No way she could have killed Eugene here and made it there in time for her appointment.”

“We’re thinking someone killed Eugene and then killed Helga to make it look like she committed suicide because she was afraid of being caught,” Mac said.

“Why?” Deborah asked. “I thought Helga killed Eugene because she had some crazy idea that she would become chief trustee.”

“Who’s chief trustee now?” Mac asked.

“We are seriously looking at Carmine Romano,” Deborah said. “But Carmine wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Recalling the humane mouse traps that Carmine was buying for the church, Bogie slowly nodded his head. “Or a mouse.”

“Okay.” Mac clapped both hands down on his knees. “Who else?”

Even though they were looking seriously at Sirrus Thorpe, they wanted the pastor to point the finger at him. No one wanted to be accused of steering suspicion in anyone’s direction.

“Who else?” Deborah replied.

“No matter how crazy it may sound to you,” Mac said, “throw out any names that come to mind when you think about who would want to kill Eugene Newton for any reason. I don’t care how nuts it sounds to you.”

“I wish Edna was here,” Deborah said with a sigh. “She works so much more closely with the members on a daily basis … some more closely than makes her feel comfortable sometimes. A couple members, especially the lonely men, have become quite attached to her.”

Recalling his interview with Eugene’s wife, David sat up in his seat. “Marilyn said something similar to that. She told us that one of Eugene’s jobs was to run interference for you and Edna when certain people became pests.”

Deborah nodded her head with a weak smile. “Yes, Eugene was good about that. He’d come over and say that he needed to talk to us about some church business and then lead us away.”

“Marilyn also mentioned something about certain older men occupying too much of Edna’s time to the point of becoming nuisances.”

The pastor’s eyes glazed over. Taking in a deep breath, she covered her mouth with her hand.

“What are you thinking, Deborah?” Archie moved to the edge of her seat.

Gnarly inched in to lay his head on the pastor’s hand.

“But he’s harmless,” Deborah said in a low voice.

“Is it Sirrus Thorpe?” David asked. “Was he the elderly church member who Eugene had to protect Edna from because he had become a pest?”

Abruptly, the glare in Sirrus’ eyes when he had stepped into Edna’s office the day before flashed in David’s mind.
What was it he said? Something about my officers sniffing around their women?

David’s heart began to race.

“Eugene considered it his duty as chief trustee to protect Edna and me,” Deborah said slowly, while piecing it together in her mind. “Sirrus Thorpe had never been to church a day in his life until Helga dragged him in after he had a major heart attack last year. He was here one Sunday and dove right in. He became a member and started making donations and coming in everyday—”

“To see Edna,” Bogie said.

Archie said, “Sounds to me like it wasn’t spiritual enlightening he was seeking.”

“If Sirrus is hanging around every day, then he knows how things work around here,” Mac said. “Like when Ruth comes in to clean and how she leaves the back door unlocked.”

“Yesterday, he walked in when Brewster was helping Edna in her office,” David recalled. “He said something about my officers sniffing around the women working at the church. I thought he was angry because we were taking so long to solve the case.”

“Oh, he’s become very attached to Edna,” Deborah said with a quick nod of her head.

“Attached or obsessed?” Mac asked.

“Sirrus would bend Edna’s ear all afternoon if we let him,” Deborah said. “So Eugene, if he was around, would call her into a meeting or ask her to do something for him, and make an excuse for why Sirrus had to go.”

“Then Helga Thorpe started rumors that Eugene and Edna were having an affair,” David said. “Could Sirrus have believed them?”

“He’s not very bright.” Deborah said with a sob.

Mac rose to his feet. “On Wednesday, when the police were searching the Thorpe home, Sirrus came here to the church—”

Deborah stood up. “To fix a leaky toilet in the ladies’ restroom.”

Mac turned to David. “They didn’t find the gun in Helga’s car. He must have decided to hang onto it.”

Bogie had already thrown open the front door and was running down the steps and along the path leading to the church building. With his long legs, he was far ahead of the group when he reached the back door of the church. Gnarly caught up to rush in ahead of him when he yanked open the door.

“What’s going on?” Ruth came out of the ladies’ bathroom with a brush in her hand encased in a cleaning glove.

“Which toilet was leaking?” Mac asked her.

She pointed with the brush. “The one in the second stall. Sirrus was supposed to fix it.”

Mac pushed his way through the door and lifted the lid from tank on the back.

David squeezed into the stall with him to peer inside. “No gun,” he reported to the crowd who filled the restroom.

“But there was something.” Mac ripped a piece of duct tape from where it had been stuck to the top and back of the tank. “He brought it here to hide until the coast was clear and then he came back for it.”

“Do you mean Sirrus?” Ruth asked. “He was here about a half hour ago to get some measurements on the toilet for some parts.”

“Thirty minutes ago?” Deborah asked.

Ruth nodded her head.

“Oh, dear Lord!” the pastor cried out. “Edna! Nate!”

“What about Brewster?” Bogie grabbed Deborah by the elbow.

“He’s going to Edna’s house today to fix some stuff,” Deborah said. “I saw Sirrus watching them at the celebration last night. He brought Edna a plate of food but she turned it down because Nate had already brought her some. I could tell that it broke his heart, so I took the food and led him away and tried to cheer him up, but it just didn’t work. He kept watching them. I thought for sure he’d get over it. Now, we’re talking about a gun—I really thought he was harmless!”

At a dead run, Bogie was on the radio while running out of the bathroom.

Mac grabbed the pastor by both arms. “Call Edna now! Tell her to make sure her whole family is inside and to lock all of her doors. Don’t let anyone in until the police get there.”

David was already calling Nate Brewster on his cell phone. “There’s no answer. It went straight to voice mail.”