GUNNED (26 page)

“Let’s think about this. Her sister had the best access and would know just the right time to make a switch.”

“But how would that be possible? Nurse Kathy was in the front with the crazy man.”

“Okay, then maybe both Kathy and her sister were in on it together. They waited for late evening when it would be quiet, Kathy calls this friend of hers and asks him to come in and act crazy. When he arrives, Kathy keeps the attention focused on the front area by the nurses’ station while her sister, Gwen Shalt, or maybe the husband, goes into the nursery and picks out another kid. Kathy told me back then the bands they put on the babies weren’t as secure and she could have made sure she left a few bands extra loose if she and Gwen had this all worked out beforehand.”

“But why didn’t Kathy just change the babies herself instead of bringing in a diversion?”

I thought about this. “There were usually two nurses attending to the babies. Someone needed to keep the other nurse out of the picture.”

Annie nodded. “Yes, I think that is how it happened. But Alex, Andrea never got sick,” Annie said.

“She hasn’t gotten sick
yet
. Mrs. Shalt’s father died rather suddenly. And there’s always the possibility that Gwen switched babies because she was scared her baby would be born with the same thing, but that never happened.

“What do we do now?”

“We need to tell John. Oh, my gosh, Annie, we may have just solved the crime!”

There was a knock on Annie’s window and we both jumped.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Annie opened her door and got out. She climbed into the back so that Meme could get into the front seat. One of these days I really did need to get a new car with four doors.

“Sorry, Meme, we didn’t hear you. I wasn’t expecting you for another fifteen minutes.”

“That’s okay. I left early. I don’t like the last game and I never win on it.”

“Did you win anything tonight?” Annie asked from the back seat.

“I won two games. One with two other people and one on my own. It was a good night.  Looked like you two were deep in thought when I walked up.”

“We think perhaps we have solved the case,” Annie said. I could see the smile on her face in my rearview mirror.

“Well, what do you know. I knew the two of you made a good team. Hey, what’s the matter, kiddo? You don’t look too happy about it.”

“Oh, I am,” I said, as I pulled out of the bingo hall parking lot. “I’m sure we’re on to something, but I wish I could remember the thing I heard. It’s probably not important after all. I’m just tired. It’ll come to me at some point.”

I hopped on the turnpike and headed back to Indian Cove. Traffic was light at this hour and my two companions were sitting quietly, staring out the window, each in their own thoughts. As I drove along, slightly over the speed limit, I had to wonder how Jennifer Shalt was going to react to the news that she was a Spiegel. And wasn’t it fortuitous that she was about to inherit some of Sheldon’s money just when her business needed it the most.

After a breakfast of toast and tea, Annie and I headed back to the beach for a brisk workout along the boardwalk. The sun was shining and wild flowers poked up their colorful heads along the dunes. The ocean air never failed to revitalize me and today was no exception. Despite the fact that I didn’t feel like I was getting much physical exercise over the past week, I had gone to bed last night feeling more tired than I had in a very long time. It always surprised me how mental activity could make me feel more worn out than being physically active.

Once we completed our circuit, we left the car where it was and walked into the center of Indian Cove. I needed a couple of things at the drug store on Main Street, and then we stopped off at Krueger’s Market to pick up the makings for sandwiches. Krueger’s had a great deli counter and I picked up slices of ham, turkey, and my personal favorite, liverwurst. I tried not to think about where it came from while I was eating it. I picked up a loaf of bread and some fresh croissants, and added a large fruit salad to the mix.

I dropped Annie off at my grandmother’s where she would play cards with Meme and her gang and my mother, while I headed back to my office for a meeting with a new client that couldn’t be postponed.

“I didn’t read in the morning paper that a suspect has been apprehended so I’m surprised to see you here,” my sister said.

“I have a meeting, and you’re right. No arrest yet, but Annie and I came up with a great theory last night. I told John and Gerard all about it until the very wee hours, so we’ll see what happens today.”

“You don’t look too happy,” Sam said, while she munched on an apple.

I finished printing up a report the client had requested, and then turned to my sister.

“John didn’t seem very excited with our theory, which probably means he and Gerard have other ideas. And you know what? That’s fine because I’m all out of suspects to talk with, and I don’t think I’m going to get anything new from the people we’ve already interrogated.”

“It doesn’t matter who finds the killer first as long as that person is brought to justice.” My sister had the nerve to smile.

“Really? Of course it matters. Annie really wanted to solve this crime before the guys. And considering I haven’t done any typical touristy stuff with her, it would be nice if she could have this one little thing.”

“Annie? You’re doing it all for Annie?”

This time I had to smile. “Okay, fine. I like to win. And I’m positive our deductions are correct. It really does all fit together nicely. I don’t know what John’s problem is.”

Millie buzzed me to say my appointment had arrived. Sam left just as Steve Winslow came into my office.

Steve Winslow was our newest client. I had met him at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon a few months ago. He was the owner of an energy research company in Stamford and I liked him a lot. His company had recently been awarded several contracts necessitating the temporary need for a call center, which he wanted Always Prepared to help him staff. Millie and I had been working on this project for a few weeks and we finally had everyone in place and initial training completed. The call center was scheduled to be operational on Monday and I wanted to go over a few things with Steve beforehand.

I worked with Steve for over an hour fine-tuning a few things he wanted to change and talking about another upcoming contract he was hoping to get.

“I think that about does it, Alex,” Steve said. “Once the ink is dry on that other contract, we’ll probably need to put together something similar. Thanks for coming in when I know you’re on vacation. You’ve put my mind at ease and I’ll be able to sleep better tonight. And now with the murder solved, we’ll all be able to sleep better.”

“Wait. What? The murder is solved?”

“Yeah, the guy whose body they found at the beach. It looks like the police arrested someone. I heard it on the news driving over here. They didn’t have any details, though.”

I showed Steve out and returned to my office with a smile on my face. It seemed John and Gerard had taken my and Annie’s account of the facts to heart after all. Now Annie would be able to return to Belgium knowing she had helped solve a murder.

My grandmother had a pile of coins in front of her to rival someone who had just hit the jackpot at a slot machine.

“I take it she’s winning,” I said to the group of dejected women seated around the kitchen table.

“Cheating is more like it.” This was a common refrain from my mother, though this time it was said with a smile. “How was your meeting, dear?”

“Good. It went well and it looks like more work will be coming our way. And to think I almost cancelled that Chamber lunch.”

“Just goes to show you, kiddo, you never know where a chance encounter will take you. Gin. Pay up, everybody.” Meme cackled and raked in her winnings. “How about we play
Five Crowns
.”

Sounded good to me. I got myself a drink and took a seat at the table. Annie shuffled the cards like a dealer in Vegas and passed them out.

“I am having such a wonderful time, and in a few days we will return home.” Annie sighed.

“Annie, you’re welcome to come back whenever you want. We’re your family now and anytime you and Gerard feel like coming across the pond, just let us know,” Meme said. “And if Alex and John are busy working, you can just hang out with us and go to bingo and play cards.”

“It is true. I do feel like you are all my family. And of course, you must come to Belgium.”

“I would love to see Belgium. Maybe when Sam and Alex take me back to Italy we can stop off.”

“Meme, are you going to Italy soon?” Annie asked.

“Annie, we’ve been talking about it for years,” I said. “It would be lovely to take Meme back to her roots.”

“You better hurry up and make some plans, kiddo, I’m not getting any younger.”

I looked at my grandmother and I could feel my eyes starting to tear up. The thought of Meme not around anymore was one that I did not entertain for long. My mother picked up on my unease. She knows how close Meme and I are, and the truth is she’s pretty attached to my grandmother as well. Bless her heart, she quickly changed the subject.

“Alex, what about the murder? Will it be solved before Annie leaves?” My mom looked over at me and gave me a wink.

I picked a card off the deck and then discarded a four. “Well, I have some news on that front.” The entire table went quiet. “Steve Winslow, the guy I just had the meeting with, told me he heard on the radio that an arrest has been made. He said there were no other details, but it looks like John and Gerard just may have taken our advice last night.”

“What advice?” Theresa asked.

I told everyone how Annie and I came up with the idea that it must have been the Shalts.”

“But which one? There’s the girl and her parents, right?” Frances asked.

“And the nurse,” Meme added.

“I’m out,” my mother said, having won the first round of the game.

“My money’s on Jennifer Shalt,” I said.

Annie counted up her points and then turned to me. “Really? I would have thought the father. Why do you think it was Jennifer?”

“Because I don’t believe her story about the business. No matter how many classes they offer, there is no way the Shalt Nursery can compete with all the garden centers in town. I know it and she does too.  I think she’s already preparing for the doors to close soon on the family business, and she wants to make sure she gets her piece of the pie when all that land sells. I think she’s been playing us all along.”

“But then this means that she believes she is the daughter of the Spiegels,” my mother said. “Is that how she feels?”

I sorted the cards in my hand that Frances had just dealt and then drew one from the deck. “Every single woman that Mr. Spiegel talked to has to believe, even just a teeny tiny bit, that he might be their father. It’s only natural to think, hey, what if this guy is right. I think anyone would be curious.”

Everyone around the table nodded.

“So Jennifer thinks okay, what if. She can sit back and wait for him to find out the truth, hoping it’s not her, or she can take matters into her own hands. Ordinarily, she would just forget about him. She has a life, a family. But here come a couple of hot-shots with money to spend and they want her land. And she knows the terms. It may turn out that she has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Spiegel family, but she can’t take that chance. Not with all that money sitting on the table. Plus, her mother and aunt had the best motive for switching the babies. We figured that out so maybe she did, too, or maybe her parents broke down and told her, ‘hey, guess what we did?’ so now she knows for sure.”

“And if the stories are true about her selling marijuana,” Annie began, “she cannot return to that lucrative line of work at this time, not with the police investigating a murder. They might catch on to what she is really selling.”

I thought about this and the fact that Mr. Spiegel may have somehow heard the rumors about the nursery. Perhaps that was just another reason to kill the man.

We continued the game through all the hands. Annie won the pot and then we broke to get some lunch. I layered the crusty end of the bread with tons of spicy mustard and then piled the liverwurst high.

“We can eat in the living room and I’ll turn on the news. I want to see who John arrested,” Meme said.

My grandmother sat on her comfy chair while my mother, Theresa and Frances sat on the sofa. Annie and I sat on the floor using cushions from the kitchen chairs. I took a bite of my sandwich and reached over to the end table for the remote. I scrolled through the menu until I found a station carrying the local news at this time of day.

We sat there in silence eating our lunch, watching the weatherperson tell us what a beautiful weekend was ahead. They cut to a commercial for some miracle drug that would solve one problem and create about a hundred more deadly ones. Then they returned to the news broadcast.

“And in Indian Cove this morning, police arrested a suspect in the murder of Sheldon Spiegel, an engineer from North Carolina who was in town claiming that the hospital in which his daughter was born almost thirty years ago had switched his baby with another. Tiffany, what can you tell us?”

They switched to some young curvaceous woman in a tight dress with tons of cleavage standing outside the Indian Cove police station.

“Mike, the police brought a man into the station this morning for questioning.”

“
Mon Dieu
, it must be Mr. Shalt,” Annie said.

“No name has been released as of yet, and no arrest has been made,” Tiffany continued.

In a small box above Tiffany’s head was a view of what had transpired earlier in the day. I watched as my husband, his partner Jim Maroni, and Gerard walked behind a man into the police station. Just as they got to the door, the suspect turned his head just for a split second and looked at the camera. I put my sandwich down and got up on my knees.