Murder at the High School Reunion (24 page)

“So, Cy, what’re you going to do?”

“Just what I told him. I can’t be judge and jury here.
I’m going to tell the chief just what we know and let him and the DA get their
heads together and decide where we go from here.”

“But you got a confession, sort of. I mean he did slip
up enough that we know he’s our man.”

“And I don’t think that will mean a lot in a court of
law, but then I’m not the lawyer, the DA is. We’ll just tell them what we know
and let them decide.”

“You know, Cy, in a way I feel sorry for the guy. He
didn’t even know these people.”

“You know, Lou, sometimes right and wrong suck.”

+++

We headed back to town, to the place that we rarely
go, and have no desire to go to any more than we do. Police headquarters.

While Hilldale is larger than many towns in our state,
it’s not a large city, and our police department isn’t a large one. But unlike
some small towns, we are large enough that we have two full-time homicide
detectives. Well, at least we used to, even though there were lots of times
when we had no murders to investigate.

We parked in the lot and headed inside and back to the
Chief’s office.

“Is he in?”

“He is. Just a second and let me see if he has a
minute.”

“Tell him it’s important.”

“I figured that, Cy. We all know that you don’t come
here to have a good time.”

A few seconds later, the Chief’s secretary returned
and motioned for us to go on in.

“Cy, Lou. Good to see you. I assume this has to do
with the case you’ve been working on.”

“That’s right.”

I spent the next ten minutes filling the Chief in on
what had transpired over the last couple of weeks, and as best I could, a
verbatim account of what had happened that morning. He whistled at the end.

“I guess the best thing to do at this point is to call
the DA in. I’ll try to get him in here this afternoon. Call me back around 1:00. If he’s free, if he’s not in court, I want you to tell him exactly what you told
me.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was exactly
what I expected. I could tell that, once again, Lou was glad I was the
spokesman for our duo.

+++

There was no reason to linger there. The Chief excused
us and we beat a hasty retreat to Lightning.

“So, what do we do now, Cy?”

“Well, it’s just a little after 11:00. What say we hang out at my house? Remember, we have half of a pizza there with our names on
it.”

“Yeah, and the best thing is that after eating it last
night, when I weighed this morning I hadn’t gained any weight.”

“Me, either, Lou. It’s okay to cheat every now and
then. What’s not okay is to revert back to the way we were.”

Lou smiled.

“What’s so funny, Lou?”

“I never thought I’d hear you say that, Cy?”

“Me, either, Lou. Me, either.”

+++

Having leftover pizza was new to me. Because of the
places Lou and I hung out, we seldom ate pizza, although we like it. But
wherever we hung out, we seldom had leftover anything.

“You know, Cy, there’s not a lot of drop off from the
way this thing tasted last night and the way it tastes today.”

“That’s the way I feel, Lou. However, I wonder how
much of that is how it tastes and how much of it is that we’re eating something
that most people would consider taboo on a diet.”

“We’re not really on a diet, Cy. This is a lifestyle
change. Whether we change what we’re eating or not, we’re definitely changing
how much we eat of whatever it is we’re eating.”

+++

Right at 1:00 the phone rang. I looked at my watch,
figured it was someone from downtown. It was. We were to meet the DA in the
Chief’s office at 2:00.

It would take us only a few minutes to get downtown
from my place, so we sat around for a few more minutes, then looked in the
mirror to make sure we looked presentable. Considering who we were, I thought
we looked pretty good.

+++

“Cy, Lou, I think you know the DA. I want you to tell
him everything you told me this morning.”

I tried to repeat everything just as I told it to the
Chief. Since the Chief didn’t interrupt, I figured I must have done a good job.

“So, Lt. Dekker, tell me. What’s your gut feeling? Do
you think we have a chance of cracking this guy?”

“My gut feeling is no, and I don’t think we’re going
to pick up any witnesses against him. One of the two deceased was hated by
everyone who knew him. The other one was merely tolerated by most, but I
haven’t found anyone who would say that she had impeccable character. Maybe the
dead woman’s husband mourns her a little, but he’s not so broken up about this
that he’d be willing to testify about anyone, if he did know the facts. At
least that’s my opinion.”

“I’ll tell you what. Give me the weekend to think
about this. By the first of the week, I’ll have a feel for whether or not I
think we should proceed.”

Lou and I were dismissed, and the Chief and the DA
waited until Lou had closed the door to continue their conversation.

Once we were outside, Lou popped the question.

“So, what are we going to do now, Cy?”

“Well, you heard the DA. It doesn’t look like we have
anything else to do before Monday, if then. I don’t know about you, but I have
a book at my house that’s calling me.”

“I think I know the one you mean. I think its twin
will be calling me, as soon as I unlock my door.”

“Just in case, it will probably be good to hang out at
home until we know any more.”

“I’ve got no problem with that.”

Little did I know, but it was a good thing that I
hadn’t planned on going anywhere the next day. The case might be nearing
completion in some form or another, but that didn’t mean our work was over.

+++

I unlocked my door, stepped inside the house, and
looked at my watch. It was not quite 3:00. I had grown fond of the retired
aspect of semi-retirement, and I missed getting to be lazy everyday. Between
working out and working outside, in the real world, I was a little more tired
that usual, so I opted to take a nap before picking up my book.

+++

While I wasn’t sure about the final outcome of the
case, I felt that I’d done all I could, and that one way or another, my work on
the case was at or was almost at an end. Because of that, I felt relief, and I
sat down to read with a smile on my face.

For years, I never read. It had been only a couple of
years or so since Lou and I opted to take up a hobby of reading. When we
retired, semi-retired, or whatever you want to call it, we wanted something fun
to occupy our time without exerting much energy to have this fun. One of us
came up with the idea of reading about fictional characters who did what we did
each day, or at least each time someone committed a murder in or around
Hilldale. While solving the murder before getting to the end of the book is the
most fun thing about reading murder mysteries, another fun thing is reading
different authors, who have various types of sleuths with many different
personalities. When the murderers of Hilldale are chilling, which means they
aren’t causing problems for the two of us, Lou and I can read four or five
mysteries over a two week period. While both Lou and I have shelled out a lot
of money on books in the last couple of years, both of us think that buying
books is one of the best values for our entertainment dollar.

+++

I had no problem finishing my book that night. If
things worked out right, I figured before the weekend was over I could read
another book or two. I was pretty sure that Lou would finish reading the book,
too, so sometime the next day I planned to call him to see what he thought of
the book. In the meantime, I would excel at something I’d mastered over the years,
being lazy.

I awoke the next morning, realized that I had nothing
I had to do that day, and contemplated staying in bed, but the new me wouldn’t
let me. I sprang from the bed in a manner I wouldn’t have attempted three weeks
before, and greeted the world. I fixed and ate breakfast, Wiied with a newfound
vigor, and relished the time I spent with God.

I planned my day. My only pressing engagement was that
I needed to change my calendar from July to August. With my busy schedule, I’d
forgotten to do so. I dreaded doing that each month. I was always afraid I’d
tear the place where the hole was, and it had been years since I’d seen any of
those sticky reinforcements I used in my notebook in high school. I completed
that task in record time and stood and looked at the new calendar picture for a
couple of minutes. I’d always wondered why calendar companies didn’t put snowy
scenes on their summer month pictures and bright sunshiny pictures when we had
to endure six months of winter. But then I realized that they’d never gone
along with my suggestion of having winter start on December 1, when it should
begin.

I had nowhere to which I had to rush, so I sat down in
front of the computer, and visited my new friend Google. I found an article titled
Six Powerful Health-Boosting Foods,
and scanned the list to see if I
could stomach any of them. In a matter of seconds, I realized that I was
already eating four of those six foods; tomatoes, kale and spinach,
blueberries, and sweet potatoes, and liked one of the other two, walnuts. I
looked at the last one, pomegranates. I wasn’t sure what they were, but I
suspected they were something closely related to figs or dates, something else
I wasn’t sure if I had eaten.

I studied the list. I’d been eating walnuts on my ice
cream sundaes for quite a while, but I was quite surprised I had managed to
choke down some of those others, particularly kale. I was about to Google
pomegranates, to see what they were, when the phone rang. I figured it was Lou,
calling me to see if I had finished the book. I figured wrong.

+++

“Lt. Dekker, I have a message for you.”

I assumed that the message was from the DA and had to
do with whether or not they planned to prosecute Walter Gillis. Again, I
assumed wrong.

“Lt. Dekker, a man called here this morning. An Earl
Spickard. He wants you to come to his place. He says it’s urgent. It has to do
with those murders you’ve been working on.”

“Does the Chief know about this call?”

“The Chief is the one he insisted on talking to. At first
the man wanted to talk to you, but when we told him that wasn’t possible, he
insisted on talking to the Chief. That was about ten minutes ago. Anyway, the
Chief wants you and Sgt. Murdock to go out there as soon as possible, and to
report to him as soon as you return. Mr. Spickard wouldn’t tell the Chief what
he wanted with you, just that it was very important, and that it has to do with
the deaths at the high school.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

My day of leisure was no more. I couldn’t figure out
what old man Spickard wanted. I didn’t even know he had a phone. I had one
though, and I used it to call Lou to let him know that he too was no longer a
man of leisure.

“I’ll be ready when you get here, Cy. I was going to
call you in a few minutes anyway, to make sure you finished your book. We can
talk about that on our way out to the country.”

+++

I made a clean getaway, sort of. I walked out the door
and saw my next-door neighbor and her mutt in her front yard. When they saw me,
both of them turned around to face the other direction. The mutt promptly
squatted to do her business. I bet she wanted to do it in my yard, but feared
incarceration.

As I neared Lou’s place I saw he was already standing
at the curb. I pulled up, and he quickly got in and buckled as I sped away.

“So, what’s our message of the day, Lou?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Don’t have one?”

“Is there an echo in here?”

“Is there an echo in here? I wonder if this means that
we are about to become free men again.”

“We’re already free, Cy. At least I’m not married. You
didn’t happen to tie the knot last night, did you?”

“No, remember, I was never a boy scout. I’m not any
good at tying knots. So, enough of this fiddle-faddle. What did you think of
the book?”

“Of course I enjoyed it. I figured out who did it,
too.”

“So, did I, but then I usually do.”

“Me, too.”

“So, Lou, we’ve been at this for a couple of years
now.”

“Has it been that long? It’s seems like we only
discovered the bodies months ago.”

“I’m talking about reading mysteries and you know it.
Now, tell me, have you got any favorite authors?”

“Well, there are some I prefer to others, but I can’t
say I have one or two favorites. It’s more like favorite books. Most of my
favorites of the books I’ve read are classic mysteries.”

“Me, too. Which ones?”

“Well, let’s see. I really like
The Murder of Roger
Ackroyd
and
Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie,
Green For
Danger
by Christianna Brand, and
The Red House Mystery
by A.A.
Milne. You know, the guy who’s famous for writing about Winnie the Pooh.”

“I know. I love that book, too. It’s a shame it’s the
only mystery he ever wrote.”

“So, how about you, Cy? Do you have any favorite
authors?”

“Well, as far as classics are concerned, I like
Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, and S.S. Van Dine. My favorite current authors
are Mary Higgins Clark, Carolyn Hart, and Martha Grimes. Of course there are
several others I like a lot.”

I thought about who some of those other authors are,
until I realized we were getting close to the school. While I didn’t plan to
stop at the school, I wanted to see if our conversation yesterday had
frightened Walter Gillis away. A couple of minutes later, I realized that I was
no spider and he was no Miss Muffet. Evidently, he really felt we didn’t have a
case against him.

We passed the school. I was beginning to get the lay
of the land. As we neared Flat Rock Road, I slowed Lightning down and flicked
Lightning’s left turn signal, even though more than likely there wasn’t another
vehicle for miles. As always, the incline pushed us against the back of the
seat, until we leveled out. I was thankful that I didn’t have to attempt that
incline in the winter, but then coming back down would have been even worse. I
could see us sliding through the stop sign and Lightning ending up in the trees
across the way, with her body full of lacerations.

We passed Duck Spencer’s place, saw him out front near
the road, appearing not to notice us. He seemed to be mowing grass that didn’t
need mowing. I wondered if he knew of our visit.

As we neared the dead end near old man Spickard’s
place, I sensed that Lightning had begun to tense up. I too wondered if it was
safe to leave Lightning alone. I decided to do so, because I wanted Lou with
me, in case Spickard tried to fill me with lead.

I parked and we got out. I walked across the road and
looked through the trees, trying to see if riffraff were afoot. I saw or heard
nothing. When I had satisfied my feelings as much as was possible considering
the situation, I moved back over to Lightning, whispered some comforting parting
words, and headed off with Lou to Spickard’s cabin. Every few feet, I stopped
and turned around, checking on Lightning. Halfway there, I was surprised to see
Spickard approaching.

“I heered ya coming, so I decided to come meet ya. I
remember last time you was here, those juvenile delinquents stole your
whatchamacallit.”

He laughed before continuing.

“Though, Duck Spencer said if he had one a them things
you drive, he’d put it out on the road and hope somebody stole it.”

This time he stopped, laughed, and slapped both knees.
I didn’t share his humor. I wanted to tell him that a Whatchamacallit is a
candy bar, and it might have been the name of one of Volkswagen’s cars at some
point, but my Lightning wasn’t one of them.

When Spickard didn’t slow down when he got to us, I
realized that he really was going to stage this to do out by Lightning. Lou and
I turned around and followed him back to where my pride and joy was waiting.

After what Spickard called my baby, I was a little
perturbed when he leaned up against her.

“Mr. Spickard, what’s so important that we had to come
all the way out here today?”

“Walter Gillis is what’s so all important. I heered ya
thinkin’ of arrestin’ him for these here murders. I just want you to know it
ain’t gonna do you no good.”

“Oh?”

“If’n you arrest him, I’m gonna say that it was me
that done it.”

“But you have an alibi for the whole time you were at
the school that night.”

“Them there alibis have a way of appearin’ and
disappearin’ whenever they’s convenient.”

“How did you hear this, Mr. Spickard? And how did you
call us? I was under the impression you don’t have a phone.”

“I was under the same impression, but I got legs, and
Duck Spencer’s got a phone. He let me use his’n.”  

“And how did you hear this news, anyway?”

“That’s not important. What’s important is that I’m a
gonna do what I have to do. Now, it’d be best for you city boys to forgit all
about these here murders and go ’bout more important things. I’m serious about
what I say. You ain’t gonna convict my friend, so there’s no need of ya
stirrin’ stuff up.”

I told Spickard I’d pass his message on to the Chief
and the DA, but I had no voice in the matter. He said he understood that, but
just to let them know that they can’t win this time.

We thanked him and I headed around to Lightning’s
driver’s side. Lou said, “excuse me,” and Spickard moved from near the door. I
stood at the door, thanked Spickard for calling, and got in and started the
car. Spickard backed up a little, but stood there until we turned around and
headed back toward town.

We seemed to be popular that morning, because we’d
gone only a quarter of a mile when I looked up and saw Duck Spencer standing in
the middle of the road with his hand up. I guess he wanted a few minutes with
us, too.

I rolled down the window, but refrained from turning
the air conditioner off.

“Mr. Spencer. So, what can I do for you today? I can’t
help you with your grass cutting. I don’t even mow my own.”

“That don’t surprise me, Lieutenant. I seen ya on your
way to see Earl Spickard. I didn’t figure you’d be there long, so I jist come
out to put my two cents worth in. Jist in case you’s plannin’ on chargin’
eithera ’em janitors with ’em murders, I want ya to know that there’s some a us
who is willin’ to say that ’em janitors never went near that kitchen that
night.”

“Is that right? Do any of you plan to claim
responsibility for shutting the freezer door?”

“Nope. We figured it was Conkwright and my wife that
shut theirselves in that freezer.”

“And it doesn’t bother you that someone ended your
wife’s life?”

“Didn’t nobody end it but her. Jest remember,
Lieutenant, ya ain’t gonna win this one. Ya might as well give up.”

I thanked Spencer for his contribution and he stepped
back. I rolled up the window and Lightning puttered on toward home. I took in
the sights on the way back, figuring that I wouldn’t be making any more trips
out that way.

+++

Luckily, it was not yet noon, so the Chief wouldn’t be keeping us from lunch. At least, I hoped he wouldn’t be. For the second day in a
row, Lou and I headed to the police station, parked, and walked in to see the
Chief. He had alerted his secretary that Lou and I were his top priority, and
she got up to knock on his office door as soon as she saw us coming down the
hall.

“Well, Cy, what did the old man want?”

I filled the Chief in on what Spickard and Spencer had
to say to us and he wasted no time calling the DA. This time he relayed the
message to the DA over the phone, which kept us from having to make a second
trip to headquarters or a trip to the DA’s office. A decision was arrived at
quickly. A story would be released to the newspaper that the two people died
accidentally. Everyone hoped that the paper wouldn’t pry for more information.
The Chief thanked the two of us for all the work we did on the case, and hoped
we weren’t disappointed.

+++

“So, Cy, what are you planning on doing?”

“I think I’ll go home and see what pomegranates are.”

“Cy, I think the sun’s getting to you. Want me to go
with you to the hospital and see if you’re suffering from heat stroke.”