Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date (13 page)

"Not
always. We don't usually go anywhere until after the mail arrives a little
before
10:00
and we have had a chance to go
over any new applications. We also respond immediately to any cards we receive.
Once we have done this any of us is free to go out. We are more likely to be
out after that if the weather is good."

"Do
the three of you go out together, or alone?"

"During
the day, one of us is usually here, but there are occasions that all of us are
gone for a while. Sometimes one of us goes out alone, but sometimes we go out
together. As you can see, my mother-in-law is far from an invalid. And in case
you don't know, she lives in the house next door. She comes over each morning
around
9:00
. Sometimes my wife and I go
somewhere together. Sometimes my wife and mother-in-law go out shopping or to
lunch together."

"Do
any of your trips out follow a pattern, like the same time of day, or the same
day of the week?"

"Nothing
except I usually get my haircut every other Tuesday, and my wife and her mother
usually go to the beauty parlor every Friday."

"Mr.
Comstock, I would like for you to write down for us the names and addresses of
people who weren't at all pleased with your service, and I'd like a printout of
each of your successes and failures and what cards were returned by whom and on
what day you received those return cards. There is a connection between each of
the victims, but I'm not ready to reveal it at this time. Oh, and do you know
what hours each of your clients are at home? Like whether they work during the
day or not?"

"I
can't tell you that for sure, but you will know if each person works and what
type of work he or she does. As for the information you request, can I put this
on a thumb drive for you?"

"That
would be fine."

"It
will take several minutes for me to find everything you need, but all of what
you asked for is already in our files on the computer."

"That's
okay. You can be working on it while I talk to your wife and mother-in-law. Can
you send your wife in now? And please refrain from talking to your
mother-in-law about what we have discussed."

"As
you wish."

Comstock
left and was replaced a few seconds later by his wife. Her answers matched her
husband's, but she was a little more irritated about my charade and the fact
that we think the dating service had something to do with the murders. Her
mother too, provided little information, but she did give us one suspect.

"One
of our clients was a guy named Charles Hacker. None of the women we paired him
with wanted to date him again. Well, he called back a few times, threatening
us, and our surveillance camera captured him dumping garbage in our front yard
late one night."

"What
did you do about it?"

"Nothing.
Arthur was afraid he would do it again if we sent the police to see him. But if
he had done it a second time I would have called them."

Each time
one person left to get another, I turned to Lou and asked him if I had
forgotten anything. The first two times he shook his head, the third time he
mentioned lunch.

Comstock
came back with the information I requested just after I finished questioning
his mother-in-law. He had remembered another unhappy client. Marge Shockley.

"She
didn't like any of the three men we fixed her up with and she accused us of
only catering to riffraff. A couple of times she called back, but hung up. I
know this because we have Caller ID, but I don't think she was smart enough to
pick up on that." 

+++

As we sat
out front of Comstock's house, before we pulled away, I picked up my phone and
punched in a number. When Sam answered I asked him for pictures of Charles
Hacker and Marge Shockley, and asked if he could send them to my phone.

We had
just left the Comstocks on the way to grab some lunch when Lou turned to me.

"Cy,
I almost forgot. I got another message today."

"Okay.
Out with it."

"Martha's
husband."

"Martha's
husband."

"Yes,
Carnac
. And don't ask me what it
means."

"How
about Martha who?"

"Well,
the only one that comes to mind is Martha Washington. Do you think the
President is behind all of this?"

"You
mean like LBJ in the Kennedy assassination?"

"He
wasn't President yet."

"No,
but a lot of people said he expedited matters to make sure he was."

"I
don't think LBJ has anything to do with the murders we're investigating."

"But
what about someone named
Washington
? Or the president of something or
other."

"How
about we find another Martha."

"Okay.
Does Martha Stewart have a husband?"

"Say,
goodnight, Gracie."

"Goodnight,
Gracie."

+++

It had
been a while since Lou and I had eaten at Sutton's, so we decided to give them
another try. I was itching for an appetizer of their Pepperoni Pups. I wasn't
sure what I wanted to order after that. They have so many good possibilities on
their menu, but a
Stromboli
with pepperoni added was one
possibility.

Lou and I
didn't talk about the investigation while we ate. We didn't want anyone to
overhear our conversation about the case, but as soon as we finished we walked
out and sat in my van for a few minutes. Rather than sit there and shiver, I
started the van and got the heater up to where it warmed up my brain enough
that I could think. Then I turned down the radio so Lou wouldn't rock and roll
in his seat.

"So,
Lou, what did you think of those three?"

"I
thought the appetizer, sandwich, and dessert were all above average."

"Lou,
do you have any idea how long it would take you to walk home?"

"I
don't think I'd do anything that stupid."

"Then
tell me what you think of the Comstocks and Mrs. Comstock's mother."

"I
don't think Mrs. Comstock is my type, and her mother is too old for me."

I gave
Lou a dirty look.

"That's
okay, Cy. If you think differently that's okay with me."

"LOU!"

"Since
it seems like your lunch didn't agree with you, I would have to say that all
three of them will stay on my suspect list, but I can't see why any of them
would jeopardize all that money coming in, just to murder a few people. So,
where do we go next?"

"First,
I want to check out the murder scenes, maybe see if we can find any of the
neighbors at home, see if anyone saw something. Maybe someone was home that
day, but not there when the local police went around talking to people. Then I
want to check out the family of the victims, see if any of them looks
suspicious or can head us in the right direction. I don't really think that a
family member of one of the victims is responsible, unless they murdered the
others to throw us off track. I think our best suspects might be the two
disgruntled people that we know about, and those people will be the next ones
we'll check with. After that, it's time to start questioning some of the people
who have been on dates who are still standing."

"Cy,
are you familiar with the Sally Field movie
Maybe I'll Be Home in the
Spring?"

"I've
heard of it, but never seen it, and didn't realize that Sally Field was in the
movie. Why?"

"Oh,
I was just thinking that might be us. I only brought enough clothes for a
couple of days."

"And
I don't plan to stay here more than a couple of nights. If we haven't figured
out who did it by then, I'll go home and think. I do some of my best thinking
at home."

"I
just knew that you didn't do it around me."

"Lou,
I'm thinking about sending your name, address, and phone number to Bambi
Fontaine."

"You'd
better not, Cy. She might send me a green card."

+++

We spent
the next three hours driving around, finding the places where the victims
lived, talking to the neighbors we could find. We were thankful all of the snow
had melted and we didn't have to try to park where someone had parked before. We
didn't find many neighbors, and those we found gave us no information to help
us. And none of them looked like they were hiding a syringe somewhere in the
house, or had disposed of one in the garbage. I made a note to check back later
if we ran into dead ends everywhere else we checked.

"Lou
what do you make of the fact that most of these people were murdered just inside
their front door?"

"I
guess the murderer wasn't invited for lunch or dinner, and it would probably be
a waste of time to hunt for fingerprints in the bathroom."

"To
carry on with what you said, Lou, as juvenile as it was, it tells me that
everyone trusted the murderer enough to open the door to him or her, but not
enough to invite this person into their home. Now who would fit into that
category?"

"You
would, Cy. But then I don't have you on my suspect list. I think you have an
alibi for the time of at least one of the murders. Besides, it could be that
the murderer was in a hurry and didn't want to waste time."

"So,
we're looking for someone with a busy schedule, or an impatient murderer? Now,
let's try this again, and try to give me a better answer."

"I'd
say that either the victims didn't know their attacker, or it was someone they
didn't want inside the house. Like an IRS auditor. But what caused each of them
to open the front door? Again I can't help but think of a badge, but we don't
have any cops down as suspects. And two of the victims were transported to
Tennessee
, and another one was found in the
woods behind his house. What was different about those three, if anything?"

"And
why didn't the murderer include you among his victims?"

"I
don't think Thelma Lou would have been happy with my demise."

"I
think she would have gotten over it in a few days. But back to the ones whose
bodies were somewhere other than inside the front door. Maybe it was because the
two guys lived out in the country. Or it could be that the murderer had yet to
develop a murder pattern, other than how to kill each person on their list."

"But
all the ones who lived in
Lexington
were found just inside their front door."

"That
reminds me, Cy. I thought of someone else who someone would open the door to,
but they wouldn't necessarily invite into the house. Someone who was delivering
pizza."

"Domino's,
Pizza Hut, or Papa John's? I think you might be on to something there, Lou.
Each of the victims had forgotten that he or she had never ordered a pizza, so
they opened the door and received something a little different."

"So,
where are we headed next?"

"I
want to meet these people who had it in for the dating service. Every now and
then someone goes off the deep end and murders someone because that person
caused them some problems. Sort of a single person's version of road rage."

"But
wouldn't someone like that murder the Comstocks instead?"

"You
would think so, but a lot of times murderers don't think rationally."

I started
the van and found out that The Rolling Stones weren't getting any satisfaction,
either.

Neither
of the disgruntled people whose names we had lived anywhere near where we were.
Not only that, but time had gotten away from us, and I had to drive across town
in rush hour traffic, something I wasn't used to doing in
Lexington
. I tried to concentrate on the
music to keep my mind off stop and go traffic. Lou did the same, even though he
didn't pay any attention to the traffic. It must have been the Stones day on 60s
on 6. I wanted to slide down in my seat when we were stopped at a light, and
Lou was moving around to
Get Off My Cloud.
I wasn't sure what they were
talking about, but I was sure it had nothing to do with computers. Or heaven.
The way Lou was acting I was sure the next Stones song would be
19th Nervous
Breakdown.
I was saved. Sort of. At least the artist featured on the radio
changed. Too bad Lou didn't change, too.

The drive
was taking way too long. Lou was looking at me and singing
Mrs. Brown You've
Got a Lovely Daughter.
I wondered if when we found someone at home I could
take Lou by surprise and run to the van and drive away before he could get to
the passenger's side. I was thankful when they played a song that neither Lou
nor I had heard of. I contemplated throwing out the baby with the bathwater and
getting rid of 60s on 6.