The Easter Egg Murder (17 page)

44

“Okay,” Harrie said. “What do we do first? Go for the PI report or listen to some of these tapes?”

Ginger shook her head. “You and I can’t get
the report. Dad has to do that and take a copy of the power of attorney. He has to prove he’s Philip’s appointed representative. It could take a while.”

Harrie thought about that. “And it’ll take time to go through all th
ese tapes. Maybe we should wait until after five when we can do it without interruption.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Ginger said. “In the meantime, I’ll call Steve and see what he’s found out about Nick’s financial situation. I hope he located someone who knows the source of that money. If Nick became involved in blackmail or money laundering, we might be looking at a whole different cast of characters as suspects in his murder.”

Harrie started to her own office and turned back to Ginger. “While you have him on the phone, see if he would object if we contact Swannie. If he has more information about how the intruder gained access to Canyon Estates, I’d like to know.”

Ginger nodded and dialed the number.

When Harrie returned to her desk, she decided to reread manuscript pages of the senator’s book. Maybe something might now seem significant in view of all that had happened lately. When she finished, she noted that the tape of the next chapter had been delivered to their office by a messenger on Wednesday morning and transcribed and edited by Ginger.

As she read that chapter, her pulse
quickened. She grabbed a spiral notebook and jotted down dates and names. She worked for almost an hour, going back over earlier pages.

She turned on her laptop and
divided a blank document into columns headed “Name,” “Age in 1950” and “Motive.” Using her notes, she filled in the columns, using her best guesses for the one labeled “motive.” By her accounting, at least six men might have had good reason to commit the murder. Of course, that hinged on certain assumptions she couldn’t verify at the moment.

Ginger came in and dropped down in the visitor chair with a sigh of frustration. “
Steve’s letting all his calls go to voicemail. He must still be trying to get through to the financial people in New York.”

“Never mind about that right now. Look what I
did.” Harrie gestured for Ginger to join her behind the desk and look at the document she’d just printed from her laptop.

Ginger frowned. “What’s all this?”

Harrie’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Remember on Saturday when we talked to DJ and Caroline about who might have had a motive to kill Chipper? I’ve been digging back in the manuscript, and this is what I came up with.”

Ginger studied the pages, running her finger along the columns to keep them lined up. “Why do you have these people’s ages listed in 1950? What does age have to do with the motive?”

“Because,” Harrie said, “Caroline indicated that Jacob thought Eric Snow murdered Chipper to keep her from spilling the beans about his family’s connection to the gambling and corruption. But that book by the mysterious Francis Black pointed to Eric for a different reason.”

Ginger looked puzzled. “Yeah. He said it was because Chipper became pregnant with Eric’s child. So? Different motive, but same guy.”

“I just read the chapter you edited for Philip last week. It’s the one messengered over on Wednesday. In it, he mentions the rumors going around about Chipper after she died. People said she dated this young handsome guy but nobody knew who he was.”

“Eric Snow. That coincides with what Caroline told us, and also what Francis Black said. So why all these other names?”

“Don’t you remember? Philip said another girl knew about an ‘older’ man in Chipper’s life. If we can figure out the identity of that man, maybe it will point to a different killer.”

Ginger looked again at the list of names. “You’ve included Daniel and Jacob Snow, and Peter Templeton. That’s just crazy. Daniel Snow served as the prosecutor on the case.”

“If you’ll notice, I’ve also included Sheriff Smiley Hernandez and some of his buddies.”

“
At least you didn’t include Philip!”

“There’s no way it could have been Philip,” Harrie said decisively. “For one thing, the dates just don’t work. He left here in 1945, right after the war. Chipper would only have been fifteen at the time.”

“Lots of fifteen-year-old girls have babies out of wedlock, even back then,” Ginger said. “But I see your point. That’s too much of a gap in time for a motive in 1950. But I still don’t see why you included the Snow brothers in here. Isn’t it highly unlikely they would have been involved with Chipper?”

Harrie shook her head. “That’s the beauty of this theory. They were the most unlikely suspects at the time, so no one would have looked at them. Someone with a connection could have a reason for preventing the publication of Philip’s book.”

Ginger’s eyes opened wide with understanding. “That would mean old Daniel Snow could have fathered Chipper’s child. But he has to be ancient by now. Would he be capable of carrying off these attacks?”

“
No, but he’s rich enough to hire the deed out.”

“We have to tell someone,” Ginger said. “We need to call Swannie ourselves. To hell with waiting for Steve’s permission.”

“Hold on,” said Harrie. “We don’t have any proof. Swannie will laugh us out of his office. We need something other than my brilliant deductions.”

“So how do you propose we get this proof, my little Sherlock friend?”

Harrie’s face creased with a smile. “Tonight, my dear, we go back to Philip’s and find what we missed before.”

“What did we miss?”

“Somewhere in his safe room, I’m convinced we’ll find that brown envelope with his name on it—the one stolen eighteen months ago from Jacob Snow’s office.”

45

Monday Afternoon, April 17, 2000

Harrie ate yogurt, munched carrot sticks and called that a lunch.

Ginger returned from her more
substantial meal at home and said, “I have some news. Steve had a long conversation with Swannie this morning.”

Harrie
was standing with her arms high above her head. Hunching over the computer for long periods played havoc with her shoulder muscles. When Ginger saw Harrie reaching toward the ceiling, she said, “So this is what you’ve been doing while I’m out gathering clues?”

“You’ve got clues?
I thought you were eating lunch.”

“Well, that too.
But you wanted to know how the intruder got into Canyon Estates on Thursday night. Swannie’s guys went door to door in the neighborhood. Nobody saw anyone who didn’t belong in the area. No big surprise there. They also reviewed all the video tapes with the Chief of Security. They got a list of license plate numbers and the make and model of the cars. One detective is checking those out. So far, nothing jumps out, but they’re not finished.”

Harrie frowned. “I thought you said you had clues”

Ginger arched an eyebrow. “Patience, patience!”

“Sorry.” Harrie dipped her head in a mock apology and smiled. “Do go on at your own convoluted pace.”

“They dumped the records for the cards scanned at the west gate that evening. All were legitimate cards issued to current residents – with one exception.”

“And?
” Harrie prompted.

Ginger looked unhappy. “It was issued to Ramona Sanchez.”

Harrie waited, expecting something more. “I sense you’re attaching something of a sinister nature to this. Isn’t there some legitimate reason Mrs. Sanchez might have been there? Perhaps she forgot something, or maybe Philip called her for some reason.”

Ginger shook her head. “They checked the outgoing call
s records from Philip’s phone. No calls were made that evening, and before you ask, there weren’t any incoming calls either.”

“Do you have a number where you can reach Mrs. Sanchez?”

Ginger shook her head. “It didn’t occur to me we’d have any reason to contact her.”

“Why not ask your mom or dad? They must have some idea. Didn’t you tell me your mom recommended Mrs. Sanchez to Philip?”

Ginger’s eyes lit up, and her smile returned. “You’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of that?“ She rushed from the room to call her mother.

She returned five minutes later, a satisfied smile on her face. “Success! I called Swannie and gave him the number. He promised he’d let me know what they find out.
”

Caroline left at five, and
Harrie was eager to listen to the tapes. Ginger got the latest from her mother on Philip’s condition. When the other phone line rang, Harrie grabbed it. It was Bob Swanson.

“Hi, Swannie. Shall I get Ginger for you?”

“No. I have some information, and I’m not sure how Ginger’s going to receive it. I’ll be there in ten minutes, if that’s okay.”

“Sure, Swannie, but can’t you just tell me what it is?”

“I’d rather talk to you both in person.”

Ginger frowned when Harries said,
“Swannie’s on his way over here. He has some information he wants to tell us in person.”

In less than the promised ten minutes, Lt. Bob Swanson walked into Southwest Editorial Services, and they went into the conference room.

“Thanks for waiting. I know you must be curious so I’ll get right to the point. I contacted Mrs. Sanchez, thanks to the number you supplied, and found her eager to talk. It seems she was ready to contact us anyway.”

Ginger shifted in her chair and sighed. “Look, Swannie. I’ve known Ramona Sanchez for a long time. She’s a hard worker and a very responsible person. Do you know she’s raised three boys all by herself? Her husband died in a construction accident when the youngest was only four years old. She never once asked anybody
for handouts. She’s worked hard all her life. All I’m saying is it’s not possible she had any connection with the attack on my godfather. She thought the world of him, and she’s taken care of his home for years now. He depends on her and trusts her.”

Swanson reached over and patted Ginger’s hand. “It’s okay. I know all about that. Unfortunately, she is the key to all this. The assailant gained access to the house through her.”

Harrie said, “Wait. You’re saying Mrs. Sanchez let the attacker into Philip’s home?”

Swans
on shook his head. “Not intentionally. But she has the magnetic card and a Canyon Estates sticker on her car. That’s how the intruder gained access.”

“Okay, so someone used
her card and car to get into the community. But how did he gain access to the house? Did the senator let him in? If so, he must have known the person.”

“
It wouldn’t have mattered if the senator knew the attacker or not. The guy had a key to the house, also courtesy of Mrs. Sanchez.”

Ginger said, shaking her head and frowning. “
How did this criminal get access to Mrs. Sanchez’ key, automobile and entry card.”

“As you said, Ramona Sanchez has raised three sons. The oldest opened a small restaurant a few years ago
and is doing well. The middle boy went into the military and is currently stationed in Germany. He’s also a fine, upstanding young man. The problem is the youngest, Pablo, or as his mother calls him, Pablito. He’s nineteen, and he’s been in trouble off and on for years. He got involved with a gang when he was twelve, and it’s been a hard road for his mother to keep him out of trouble ever since. Recently, he started dealing drugs and apparently got sideways with some of the suppliers. He owed them a lot of money, and they gave him the option of discharging his entire debt by taking on a contract.”

“I don’t understand,” Harrie said. “Why would a bunch of drug dealers want to harm Senator Lawrence? I hope you’re not implying that he’s mixed up in the drug trade.”

“No. But the big bosses in the drug rings often have connections with people in positions of power and wealth. They do each other favors. The person or persons who wanted to suppress the senator’s book about Chipped Finn may have called in a favor from the drug lords to eliminate the senator before the book saw the light of day.”

Ginger frowned. “So you’re saying some seemingly upstanding person of wealth and power hired this drug boss to get rid of Philip Lawrence, and the instrument of that attack was the youngest son of his housekeeper?”

Swanson nodded. “Exactly.”

“And Ramona found out. Did she turn in
her own son?”

“She hoped he would turn himself in. After he attacked the senator, he
went to his contact to return the gun they had given him for the attack. That’s when he found out he’d been set up to take the fall for another murder that happened on Wednesday night.”

Harrie shuddered. “You’re talking about Nick Constantine, aren’t you?”

Swanson nodded. “Our guess is the same person wanted both men dead. What’s still unclear is who fired the shot that killed Constantine. We know it wasn’t Pablito.”

“How did Ramona learn all this?” Ginger asked.

“The kid got scared. His job was to kill the Senator, not just wound him. He figured they would be after him for botching the job. Pablito told Ramona he was going to Mexico and wanted her to drive him as far as El Paso. She knew something was wrong, but she didn’t know what until after they got there. Before he got out of the car, he broke down and confessed what he’d done. He said
El Jefe
would have him killed and then prove he’d done both murders since his fingerprints were on the gun.”

Harrie said, “She should have brought him back. If he told the police what happened, you could have helped him, couldn’t you?”

Lt. Swanson shook his head. “His mother tried to get him to come back with her and turn himself in. But he told her he wouldn’t last a day in jail because they had people in there who would kill him so that he couldn’t talk. She realized he was probably right and let him walk away. The last time she saw him, he was walking across the bridge into Juarez.”

“Poor Ramona,” Ginger said. “As a mother, I understand how she feels. This must be so hard on her, and I’m sure she’s frightened for him.”

“She has good reason to be frightened.” Swanson sighed. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her the kid probably won’t have any better chance of surviving in Mexico. The drug cartels down there have a great deal of power, and they’re probably in business with
El Jefe
. I’m sure they’ll be on the lookout for Pablito.”

Harrie said, “Will Ramona be in trouble with the police because she helped her son escape?”

“I don’t know,” Swannie said as he gathered up his papers and stood to leave. “I wouldn’t be in favor of charging her. I’m much more interested in getting
El Jefe
.”

“Is there any chance you’ll be able to do that?” Ginger asked.

“We have undercover cops in his gang. I think
El Jefe’s
days are numbered.”

Harrie stood and walked out with Swanson and Ginger. “Let me ask you something else before you go. Is there any way you can find out the identity of the person who contracted with
El Jefe
for the murders of Nick and the senator?”

“I can’t talk about that just yet. But we have a pretty good idea who it is.”

Harrie chuckled. “I’ll bet you do, and I’ll bet you’ve already shared those speculations with someone, haven’t you?”

Swanson narrowed his eyes and studied her. “You have someone in particular in mind?”

“You know I do,” she replied. “Be sure to give my regards to DJ Scott.”