The Easter Egg Murder (3 page)

5

Philip looked at Harrie for a long time. The room was eerily quiet around them with only the grandfather clock’s soft ticking measuring the passing seconds. The leather chair whooshed as he pushed himself up.

"Ladies, I'm about to trust you with something I’ve only shown two other people. I hope
to assure you I’m quite prepared for any problems.”

He went to one of the bookcases and withdrew a volume from the shelf. He reached in behind where the b
ook had been. There was a soft click, and the section swung noiselessly out into the room. A door, which appeared to be made of steel, was behind the bookcase. Philip tapped numbers into a keypad next to the door, and the door opened.

He
flipped a switch and light bathed a small room. The air smelled slightly stale and felt warmer than the senator’s library. Philip touched another control beside the light switch, and cool, fresh air flowed from a vent near the floor. Sturdy metal shelves stood against the wall opposite the door. A desk, typewriter, chair and small dormitory refrigerator were arranged at the end of the room. There were no windows. The walls were covered with framed photographs, plaques and awards. Harrie noticed a complex control panel on the wall to the right of the door. Above it was a flat panel monitor suspended from the ceiling. Philip punched some buttons and the monitor blinked to life.

A picture of the library appeared on screen.
After a few seconds, that image dissolved into one of the front entrance to the house. The screen changed again and showed Ginger’s yellow VW parked in the circular driveway. Harrie watched in fascination as the picture changed to several more locations before it came back to a new image of the library. The camera zoomed in on the table where the iced tea pitcher and glasses sat. Harrie glanced at Philip and saw that he manipulated a small joystick to operate the hidden camera.

He chuckled. “I imagine this must look rather eccentric to you.”

“Philip, what is this all about? Why did you build this room?”

“It’s a safe room. In some circles they call it a panic room, although I don’t really care for that name.
”

“But why? Why do you need a safe room?”

He smiled. “Maybe I anticipated Harrie’s warning.” Then his face became serious. “Over the years in public office you acquire enemies. Occasionally, someone decides to seek retribution for real or imagined grievances. I don’t anticipate trouble, but I am prepared for it. I also have something else to show you.”

He
unlocked a side drawer in the desk and withdrew a fat, rubber-banded folder. “This contains all the newspaper clippings I saved about Chipper Finn’s murder. I have copies in a safe deposit box at my bank. Having the original clippings here helps me connect to the past as I dictate the chapters of the book.”

His face softened and took on a look of sadness. “There’s something about yellowed news
print saved long past its time that puts things in perspective. Some people toss away newspapers without a second thought, just as they sometimes toss away a life.” He ran his fingers over the bulging folder, his thoughts apparently lost somewhere in the past it represented. With a sigh, he rejoined them in the present.

“When you leave today, I want you to take this folder back to your office. But first, I’ll go over some of the articles with you. Let’s go back to the library where we can be comfortable.”

He handed the folder to Ginger, and they reentered the library.

Harrie looked around for the hidden camera. She tried to remember the exact angle she’d seen when it focused in on the iced tea tray. “I give up
. Where is the camera hidden?”

Philip’s eyes twinkled. “You never saw it
, did you?” He pushed the library ladder along the railing and climbed to the top shelf where he pointed to one volume among a series of leather-bound books with ornate gold markings on their spines. “It’s embedded right here within this curlicue. Very effective, don’t you think?”

They went to the conference table and settled in.

“You should acquaint yourself with the news coverage surrounding Chipper Finn’s murder. Feel free to keep these clippings for the next few days. First, though, I’d like to tell you the way I saw the story develop.”

He leaned
forward in the chair and paused as though collecting his thoughts. “Kathleen Finn, also known as ‘Chipper,’ was a young woman barely twenty years old. She was very beautiful, and she supposedly had numerous boyfriends. She worked in Los Huevos at a gambling joint in the spring of 1950.”

Philip paused when Harrie and Ginger exchange looks. “Do you have a question?”

Harrie said, “I thought gambling was illegal in New Mexico until the compact with the various Indian tribes. So how could there have been a ‘gambling joint’ in Los Huevos in 1950?”

Philip smiled. “
Gambling was officially illegal in New Mexico in 1950, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any. On the contrary, we had quite a bit of illegal gambling here. Everybody wanted to make a buck, and gambling seduced people into thinking they had a chance at doing just that.”

Ginger frowned. “Why didn’t they just go to Las Vegas?”

“In those days, Las Vegas was just a small desert town. There wasn’t much going for the town besides the gambling. And remember, air travel was a luxury in those days, and driving to Vegas in cars without air conditioning was uncomfortable to say the least. Even the Mafia hadn’t fully appreciated its potential.”

Ginger asked, “Was the Mafia involved in New Mexico?”

He nodded. “New Mexico was actually their first choice. It had more to offer than Nevada. It was remote, but had convenient railroad service. The weather was better, too. All they had to do was push through the legislation to make gambling legal. In the 40s, especially, the state was wide open with plenty of corrupt politicians eager to take money for their favors. Stories are told about Bugsy Siegel meeting with a group of these politicians in Santa Fe, and he almost made a deal. But something went wrong. In the end, Bugsy settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the rest is well-known history. The politicians who protected the gambling establishments in New Mexico hung on a long time. Los Huevos was the last place closed down in the reform.”

“What caused the reform?”
Harrie asked.

“
Basically, it was Chipper Finn’s murder. Because the Ventana County sheriff conducted such a sloppy investigation, the FBI became involved. The man arrested for the murder had his civil rights violated in a particularly painful way. Three law enforcement officials ended up in federal prison. A grand jury convened to take testimony about corruption, not only in Los Huevos, but in other parts of the state as well. The grand jury authorized raids on gambling establishments. One-armed bandits and other gaming devices were destroyed. Los Huevos was never the same.”

Philip
took a few clippings from the folder. “Go ahead and read through these.”

Harrie noticed the
headline of the first article –
Easter Egg Murder Shocks Small Town
. “Why do they call it the Easter Egg Murder?”

Philip
chuckled, “Well, they discovered the body on Easter Sunday morning, and it was found at the base of the mountain called Los Huevos. You know,” he said when she gave him a blank look, “the eggs?”

She grinned. “Of course. So m
uch for my Spanish vocabulary.”

She resumed her reading and saw what Philip meant about the slipshod investigation. The next clipping featured a grainy newspaper photograph. Harrie squinted at the shadowy image and realized she was looking at a photo
, taken at the scene, showing the woman’s body.

Her throat felt tight, and her mouth went dry. She thought she smelled the faint odor of cool sand and vegetation
—like early morning in the desert. Fear flooded through her like summer rains rushing through the arroyos. She had seen that image before. Not in a yellowed old newspaper clipping, but in her full color dreams. It was the same body she saw in her nightmares laying next to Senator Lawrence. Her head spun and her vision blurred.

6

Harrie reclined on the sofa, her head low and her feet raised by pillows. Philip had insisted she rest after her brief faint. It had happened before.

After the blood flowed back to her head, s
he told him about the image’s strange appearance in her dreams. She didn’t mention seeing the Senator’s body. Instead, she asked how he had become involved in the Easter egg murder.

Philip gazed at the ceiling.
“For about eight months in 1945, I was stationed in Albuquerque training for a special mission that became unnecessary when the atomic bombs were detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August that year. The Japanese surrendered shortly thereafter, and I received early release from my enlistment. I was only twenty-one. I had left college to enlist, and it made sense to go back to school. I enrolled at Georgetown University and took night classes under the GI Bill. But I kept thinking about the New Mexico landscape. It was so different from New Hampshire where I grew up. There was a freedom in the open spaces and the clean dry air. I wanted an excuse to return. I even subscribed to the
Albuquerque Morning Sun
. I remember thinking it would be interesting to try my hand at being a reporter. Then one day I saw the story about Kathleen Finn’s murder, and it captured my imagination.”

Harrie
was drawn into the Senator’s story. She understood why he had been such an effective politician. His voice was deep and resonant, and he had the actor’s ability to hold the attention of his audience.

“In
1950,” he continued, “I had just completed a year of pre-law when an old army buddy looked me up. Eddie had stayed in Albuquerque after the war, working for the
Albuquerque Morning Sun
. He was getting married and taking on a new job, and he volunteered to put in a word for me if I wanted his old job at the paper. I decided I could complete my law studies at UNM. So I packed my bags for Albuquerque and landed the job.”

Ginger
asked, “Why did they assign you the Finn murder?”

“
Chipper worked in Los Huevos, but she was an Albuquerque resident. The paper wanted background information and human-interest stories about her. I was assigned to see what I could come up with as filler pieces.”

Philip stopped talking when the grandfather clock chimed
three times.

“
Oh no,” said Ginger. “I was so engrossed, I lost track of time. Harrie and I have another appointment. Do you think we could talk again soon?”

Philip pulled himself up from the chair. “Of course.
Take the material, look it over and call me when you’re ready to talk again. I’m an old man who likes to have a captive audience for his ramblings.”

“I enjoyed every minute,” Ha
rrie assured him and meant it.

Philip walked with them to the front door, but stopped Ginger as she started to open it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the set of keys they had seen him use earlier. He removed two from the ring and reached for Ginger’s hand.
She watched as he pressed the two keys into her palm and carefully folded her fingers over them.

“They’re duplicates. Put them someplace safe. If anything should ever happen to me, use the big one to get into the desk in my safe room and take custody of all my files. Would you do that for me?” His dark eyes watched her intently.

“Don’t say things like that,” Ginger protested.

“Please, Ginger, I need you to make this promise.”

She sighed. “If that’s what you want, I promise.”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” He took a slip of paper from his pocket and jotted down some numbers. He put the paper in Ginger’s hand, along with the keys.

“That’s the combination to get into the room. Keep it with you, okay?”

She looked into his eyes. “Okay, but you have to promise me to be careful, and not let anything happen to you.”

He patted her on the shoulder and opened the door for them. “I promise I’ll be extra careful.” Then he looked at Harrie. “You two promise me something. Do not tell anyone, and I mean
anyone
, about these keys or the safe room. Will you do that?”

Both women murmured their agreement. Ginger hugged him one more time, and they left.

“He’s really something.” Harrie mused. “Why do you think he was so insistent you take those keys?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes he can be very dramatic. Remind me to put them in the key cabinet in the vault when we get back.” She abruptly changed the subject. “Hey, I want to talk about you. Are you really okay? You had me worried in there, Kiddo.”

“I’m fine, I just got dizzy. When I saw the photograph, I remembered it from my dreams. I didn’t realize exactly what I had seen until that moment. The image of a woman, lying there on the desert floor in that strange pose startled me. It was such a shock to have it all come together like that.”

Harrie hesitated, considering whether she should tell Ginger about the other body in her dream. She decided to wait. Maybe there was nothi
ng to it. There was no sense getting her friend more alarmed. She looked over at Ginger and saw the doubt still there. “For goodness sake,” she teased her, “will you stop worrying. I’m really not all that frail, you know.”

Ginger gave her
an appraising look. “Okay. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to keep my eye on you until we’re safely finished with this project. I’m feeling more than a little uneasy about all this. I think you’ve managed to spook me out, thank you very much.”

They laughed and Harrie sensed the tension easing somewhat. They waved to the guard at the gate as they exited, and Harrie noticed he made another notation on his clipboard. Ginger chuckled. “I’ll bet they have cameras posted all around here and know what every visitor does every minute they’re here.”
While stopped at the traffic light at Academy, they discussed their next appointments where they hoped to hire their administrative assistant and all round “Girl Friday.”

When the light changed and they turned west on Academy Boulevard, Harrie noticed a black SUV parked in the turnout just outside the gate. She laughed and shook her head.
“Don’t look now, but I think all this murder and mystery is getting to me.”

Ginger didn’t take her eyes off the road, “Now what? Did you see another body?”

“Hardly. But if I were an alarmist I might think that black SUV that was parked outside the gate is following us.”

Ginger groaned. “Please
do
not
add more intrigue to this situation. Philip’s drama of the keys and safe room door code is enough for one day.”

“Okay,” Harrie said, “but don’t blame me when it turns out I’m right.”

“Trust me,” Ginger said and looked over at her friend, “it’s just another case of your vivid imagination at work. I swear, woman, you should put that mind of yours to good use and write a book of your own.”

Harrie snorted. “Yeah, right! That’ll be the day!”