Murder at Jade Cove (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 2) (4 page)

“The answer to your first
question is yes, I do know a little about Jeff. I don’t think it’s common
knowledge in town, at least I never heard anyone talk about it, but Jeff was
pretty sure his wife was having an affair with some guy named Gabe Lewis. Guess
he’s a big lumber honcho up in Sunset Bay.”

“You’re kidding! Marcy and
Gabe? Wow! I’ve never met him, but I hear he’s probably the richest guy around
in these parts. He owns thousands of acres of cedar trees and also the big
lumber mill where every cedar tree you see on a logging truck around here goes
to be processed. His family started in the lumber business well over a hundred
years ago and he runs it now. Marcy likes the good life and has expensive
tastes, but I can’t figure out why she’d risk Jeff finding out about it. He
gave her whatever she wanted and next to Gabe, he’s probably, or was, the
second richest man in the county.”

“Well, Jeff was thinking
about divorcing her.  When I saw him, a couple of days before he was killed, he
told me he was on his way to his attorney’s office to start divorce proceedings
against her. And in answer to your second question, he came to see me because
he wanted to know if I could help him with a problem he was having. He said he
couldn’t sleep at night because of the stress he’d been under trying to get
approval to build the hotel and spa and then making the decision to divorce
Marcy. He wanted to know if there was something he could do, like meditate or
drink warm milk, or whatever.”

“Do you think Marcy knew
he was going to divorce her?”

“I have no idea. I don’t
even know if he went to his lawyer’s office. Why?”

“Well, if she found out he
was going to divorce her that might be a motive for the murder. Wonder when she
left to go see her sister in Portland.”

“Kelly, seems to me I
remember you made a promise to Mike that you’d let him solve the crimes that
occur around here and you wouldn’t get involved in his cases.”

“Yeah, Doc, you’re right.
I did promise him I’d stay out of his cases. Okay, I won’t,” she said, mentally
crossing her fingers and wondering when Marcy and Brandon would return to Cedar
Bay so she could talk to Marcy. “Speaking of which, it’s time for us to go.
Mike wanted to tell Brandon about the death of his father in person, so he
drove over to Corvallis and didn’t get any sleep last night. Rather imagine
he’ll want dinner as soon as I get home and then he’ll crash. Thanks Doc, and
I’m so glad your volunteering is working out for you.

“I need to start dinner,
too. Liz asked me if I would give her some advice on a few of her clients and I
asked her to come out here for dinner.  Thought it would be easier to talk here
rather than in the office, plus it saves me from having to drive back to town.”

“Doc, you asked Liz out
here for dinner? That’s a first. At least I think that’s a first. Is there more
I should know about this relationship?”

“Kelly, you’re starting to
wear too darn many hats. Coffee shop owner, unlicensed crime solver, and now
matchmaker. Stick to wearing the first hat and let go of the other two. If
there’s anything you need to know, I’ll be sure and tell you, but only if and
when I feel like it.”

“I’m counting on it, Doc,”
she said, grinning. She opened the door and started to walk out. “Come on,
Rebel. Time to go home.”

Rebel stood where he was
and looked up at Doc expectantly, at least that’s the way it looked to Doc and
Kelly who exchanged amused looks. Neither one was sure if a dog could look
expectantly, but if it could, that was the expression Rebel wore.

“All right, Rebel. I
almost forgot your treat. Come on.”

Rebel pranced into the
kitchen and stood next to Doc. Kelly waited while Doc cut several pieces of
filet mignon into bite size pieces and fed them to Rebel. When Rebel was
finished eating he walked over to where Kelly was waiting and followed her out
to her minivan. Doc walked along with them and opened the door on the minivan
for her.

“Kelly, I’d swear that dog
wasn’t going to leave until he got his treat and he knows I always give him
filet mignon pieces. That big guy is almost human.”

“I know. He even scares me
at times. See you tomorrow.”

“Hey, Mike. I’m home,” Kelly said as
she walked into the great room that overlooked the bay. Mike rose from the
chair he’d been sitting in and strode over to her, enveloping her in a big hug
and giving her a kiss.

“Where have you been? I’ve
been expecting you for the last couple of hours. Either you’ve been cooking a
lot at the coffee shop or you’ve been running errands.”

“Don’t know if it would
qualify as running errands, but first of all I went out to the reservation.
Chief Many Trees asked me to bring him some cookies and leftover caramel rolls,
if there were any, for a tribal council meeting they’re holding tonight. I had
a long talk with him and it was quite interesting. Don’t worry, Mike, I’m not
getting involved in this case, although what he told me might have some bearing
on your investigation.” She related to him the conversation she had with Chief
Many Trees.

“Kelly, that’s very
interesting, but it still doesn’t mean that someone from the reservation wasn’t
the killer. He or she could have easily gotten a gun and killed Jeff. The fact
that guns aren’t allowed on the reservation only means just that. Someone could
hide a gun anywhere, on or off the reservation.”

“I know, Mike, but I would
think that alone would keep a lot of people from buying one and using it.”

“If threatening to kick
someone out of the tribe is a deterrent to having easy access to guns, I’m all
for it. The hard truth of the matter is that it’s very easy for anyone to get a
gun and keep it hidden. Look at all the people you read about carrying
concealed weapons that don’t have a permit. Anyway, I want to tell you about my
conversation with Lem Bates. He’s the lawyer in town.”

“Mike, I know who Lem is.
I’ve known him forever. We went to school together. He’s the only lawyer in
town, so he knows everybody and pretty much everything about everybody. Anyway,
go on.”

“Yeah, I forget sometimes
that your roots run a lot deeper here in Cedar Bay than mine. I’ve been sitting
here for an hour or so trying to figure out what to do with this information.
Evidently Jeff was pretty sure Marcy was having an affair with Gabe Lewis, you
know, the lumber baron who lives up in Sunset Bay.”

“Mike, I can’t believe you
learned today that Marcy was having an affair, because, believe it or not, I
found out the same thing just an hour or so ago. I’ll tell you how I found out
when you finish.”

“Kelly, what Lem told me
was essentially attorney-client privileged information, but Lem said that since
Jeff was dead, it really didn’t matter anymore, so he was free to tell me why
Jeff had come to see him.”

“Yep. That’s exactly what
I was told.”

“Look, we’re getting
nowhere really fast. How about you be quiet and listen to me and then I’ll be
quiet and listen to you. Fair enough?”

“Deal.”

“Okay. Jeff was so sure
Marcy was having an affair with Gabe that he started divorce proceedings
against her. In the court papers Lem prepared and filed with the court, it
specified that the ranch was Jeff’s sole and separate property. He’d inherited
part of the property from his parents and the rest of the acreage he bought at
a BLM auction. He used his inheritance from his parents to buy the BLM
property. If you remember, when I did a background search on him when he was a
suspect in Amber’s murder, I found out that the ranch was solely in his name.
Here’s the interesting part. Jeff took out a life insurance policy on himself in
the amount of three million dollars several years ago. He wanted to make sure
that if something ever happened to him, Brandon would have enough money to go
to both college and graduate school. He told Lem he wasn’t going to change
anything on the insurance policy. He wanted Marcy to stay on as the primary
beneficiary so she would have money to pay for Brandon’s education. He said
that although Marcy was almost assuredly having an affair with Gabe, she was
still a very good mother.”

“Wow! Between the divorce
and the life insurance policy, she certainly had a motive, actually a couple,
for killing him.”

“Well, there’s more. She
didn’t know that the ranch and everything in it was in Jeff’s name alone and
would be awarded exclusively to him if there was a divorce. From what Lem said,
she was never interested in the business side of things. She thought the ranch
was in both of their names. Lem personally served her with the divorce papers
and according to him, when she read them she went nuts. She couldn’t believe
that she would be almost penniless after the divorce. He said she was shocked
Jeff was divorcing her. She kept saying that if something happened to Jeff she
wouldn’t have any money to keep Brandon in school. Lem told her that even
though Jeff was divorcing her, he had insisted on keeping her on as the primary
beneficiary on his life insurance policy in order to provide a fund to pay for
Brandon’s education. He also told her the policy amount was three million
dollars and with that amount, she would have more than enough money to keep
Brandon in school. He told her she would be entitled to spousal support because
of the longevity of the marriage, but if she remarried, it would end.”

“Mike, when did Lem serve
her with the divorce papers?”

“From your question,
you’re probably thinking the same thing I am. She was served in the afternoon
on the day Jeff was murdered.”

Kelly was quiet for
several minutes while she began to prepare dinner. “Mike, after I took the
things out to the chief at the reservation, I went to see Doc. I was curious
how he was doing at the clinic and his ranch was on the way home. Interestingly
enough, Jeff had talked to Doc at the clinic about divorcing Marcy for the same
reason Lem told you, namely, she was having an affair with Gabe Lewis. He knew
Doc wasn’t a psychologist, but he was hoping Doc could give him some advice
about problems he was having with sleeping. He said between getting approval
for the hotel and spa and making the difficult decision to divorce Marcy, he
hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in months. He told Doc he didn’t want to meet
with Liz because they’d known each other a long time. He didn’t feel she could
be objective about his situation.”

“Well, whether she was
having an affair with him or not, Jeff was sure enough about it to make the
decision to divorce her. You’ve got a good sense of things and people. Think
Marcy did it?”

“I don’t know. If she was
found guilty of killing Jeff, it would mean both of Brandon’s parents would be
gone. His mother would be in prison for life for the murder of his father.
That, on top of the recent murder of his girlfriend, Amber, might be too much
for him. Whatever else people say about Marcy, she’s a very good mother and I’m
not sure she would do anything to hurt Brandon. For that reason alone, I have a
hard time thinking it’s her, but I could be wrong.”

“Kelly, my brain is too
tired from lack of sleep for me to even think clearly right now. How about we
finish dinner and then I can go to bed? Hopefully, the answer will come to me
when I wake up tomorrow, but I have a feeling that’s not going to happen.”

“Well, I’ll give you
something lighter to think about. Liz, the psychologist in town who owns the
clinic where Doc is donating his time, is going out to Doc’s home for dinner
tonight. I think that’s a little unusual, don’t you?”

“You know him a lot better
than I do, but from what you’ve told me, he’s kind of a loner. I’ve never heard
of anyone being asked to his ranch. You’ve been out there a couple of times,
but I don’t think you were invited. Are you inferring that maybe there’s a
possibility of some romance in the air?”

“Well, I don’t know. He
was rather evasive when I asked him, but I hope there is something going on
between the two of them. Both of them are nice people who deserve some
happiness. You know Doc’s situation and that certainly hasn’t been a happy one.
Liz is kind of a Mother Earth figure. You just feel better when you’re around
her. No wonder she’s such a successful psychologist. I don’t think her life has
been all that happy either, although she clearly enjoys being a psychologist. I
remember Liz telling me she was briefly married when she was in her early
twenties, but I’ve never heard of her seeing anyone else and she’s got to be in
her mid-40’s now. She lived in Portland for several years, and then came back
here to be with her parents before they passed away.”

“Sounds to me like she’d
be perfect for him,” Mike said. They’re both in the medical field and she’s a
little younger than he is. She doesn’t have any children, does she?”

“No. One time we were
talking about children because she counsels several at the clinic and that’s
when she made the statement that although she’d been married briefly, she’d
never had children. I think I told you that Doc has two sons, but when he was
tried for manslaughter in Southern California and his wife left him, she took
the children and he’s never seen them since. I wonder if Doc has told Liz about
his past. Don’t you think she’d be curious why he wasn’t practicing medicine?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Liz and Doc got together and his sons reconciled
with him? I think he said they were teenagers when the marriage broke up, so
they might even be in college by now.”