The Easter Egg Murder (5 page)

9

Harrie and Ginger settled in the conference room with sandwiches and bottled water, each engrossed in her own pile of newspaper clippings. Harrie reread the article with the dead woman’s photograph, but carefully avoided looking at the picture again. She read the account of the young boys’ grisly discovery, and felt herself drawn back in time, experiencing what she imagined the public did in 1950 as they read these articles.
BODY DISCOVERED IN DESERT IDENTIFIED
, the headline proclaimed.

Information on the identity of the remains discovered in the desert near Los Huevos was released today by Ventana County Sheriff, Hugo ‘Smiley’ Hernandez. Kathleen Finn, age 20, a resident of Albuquerque, was discovered on Easter Sunday morning by three Los Huevos youngsters who were lizard hunting in the desert. Sheriff Hernandez released the victim’s name after her mother, Mrs. Ovida Finn, was notified and made the identification at Green Haven Mortuary.

Details of the young woman’s death are
being withheld pending further investigation, but Sheriff Hernandez indicated he expects a quick resolution of the case. Mrs. Finn told sheriff’s deputies that her daughter, known to her friends as Chipper, was working in Los Huevos to pay for her school tuition. ‘She was a good girl, a loving daughter. Somebody evil did this to her, and God will punish them,’ Mrs. Finn told a reporter as she left the mortuary. Besides her mother, Finn is survived by her brother, Bryan.

Harrie made a few notes and picked up the next article,
ARREST MADE IN FINN MURDER
.

Sheriff Hugo ‘Smiley’ Hernandez announced today that his deputies have arrested Manny Salinas, a well-known local prizefighter. Hernandez told reporters Salinas was involved with Miss Finn. They were seen together the night she was murdered, leaving a nightclub in the gambling district of Los Huevos. Sheriff Hernandez stated he was ‘confident that Salinas is the culprit. It was well known that Salinas was very jealous and possessive about Miss Finn. They recently broke up but he wouldn’t leave her alone. So it’s obvious that he decided if he couldn’t have her, nobody would. It shouldn’t take long to get him convicted and executed,’ said the sheriff.

“Well, nothing like having the sheriff solve the case before it even goes to court,” Harrie muttered.

Ginger looked up from her reading material. “What are you talking about?”

Harrie handed the article over for Ginger’s inspection. “Old Sheriff ‘Smiley’ Hernandez laid it out for the press that Salinas is guilty and here’s his motive and let’s just hang him. He implied they didn’t really need a trial. There’s no way they would have found an unbiased jury with such prejudicial remarks to the newspapers.”

Ginger said, “From what I’ve read in my stack, ‘Smiley’ Hernandez ended up on the losing end. It looks like Salinas was acquitted by his trial jury, and Sheriff Hernandez and some of his buddies went to jail.”

Harrie nodded. “Those are the guys Philip was talking about yesterday.”

“That’s right. It says here, the sheriff, a deputy, and a state police captain decided to take a detour before delivering Salinas to the jail in Albuquerque. They stopped the car between Los Huevos and Albuquerque and took Manny off in the desert, not far from the place where Chipper Finn’s body was found, but over the county line. They questioned him again, and it got rough. Manny was a fighter long enough to receive quite a few punches to the head, so he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. He just kept insisting he was innocent. The more he denied, the more they pounded him. Finally, something else happened, which was apparently too graphic to be included in the newspaper article at the time. Anyway, somehow the FBI got involved in investigating the sheriff and the others, and they were convicted of violating Salinas’s civil rights. They were all sent to federal prison.”

“So they acquitted Manny Salinas.”

“That’s what it says here. Maybe the jury found out what the sheriff did
. . . it doesn’t explain.”

Harrie pondered this. “Do they ever mention any other possible suspects? I didn’t find anything in my stack indicating they even seriously looked at anyone else.”

Ginger shrugged. “That I don’t know. There seems to be a gap in the coverage. We’ll have to ask Philip when we see him this afternoon.” Ginger looked at Harrie quizzically. “Do you feel okay? You look tired and a little pale.”

“I had another dream just before I woke up this morning, and it left a bad feeling.”

Ginger studied Harrie’s face. “Tell me about it.”

She described the eerie setting and the faceless man. “That’s about all there was to it. Nothing happened. It was just spooky
. I’m nervous and irritable, and I’m having a hard time staying focused. ” She rubbed her neck, willing herself to relax. Then she brightened. “Maybe some caffeine would help.”

10

“Who was the man in your dream?” Ginger maneuvered through the traffic on Montgomery Boulevard.

“I have no idea. He was creepy, that’s all I know. I’d rather focus on our meeting with Senator Lawrence.”

Ginger nodded. “Okay. Then let’s discuss the handsome stranger you met this morning.”

“What’s there to tell? Anyway, I never said anything about him being handsome. I really don’t remember what he looked like. He was just a guy who scared me to death.”

“Well, that might be easier to believe if I hadn’t seen him myself. I also saw how flustered you were.”

“You were watching me?”

“You mumbled something as you rushed outside. I got to the window just in time to see you drop your keys and focus your attention on finding them. Then I saw this good-looking guy walk up behind you, and you fell on your backside. Very unladylike. I started to rush out to help, but I saw he’d stepped in to haul your ass up off the pavement. So, I decided to let nature take its course.” Ginger had a smug little smile as Harrie looked over at her.

“Exactly what were you expecting to happen after that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe that he would introduce himself and ask your name, and then he would offer to buy you a cup of coffee. Then you might feel comfortable enough to accept a real date with the guy, providing he was willing to hang around with absolutely no encouragement.”

“You are positively determined to get me hooked up with someone, aren’t you?”

Ginger feigned surprise. “Now why in the world would I do that? Why do you suppose I would want my best friend in the whole world to find a nice, respectable, loving male companion? Do you think I want you to be alone for the rest of your life?”

Harrie shook her head. “I’m just not ready. Maybe I’ll never be ready. Anyway, what’s the big hurry?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, we both turn thirty eight this summer.”

Harrie grimaced. “Why do pe
ople say you ‘turn’? It sounds like we become sour milk.”

Ginger sighed. “You
need to think about your biological clock. You’ve always said you wanted kids. If you wait much longer, that isn’t going to happen.”

Harrie felt her throat tighten, and she looked out the window. She took a long breath and let it out. “I can’t worry about that right now. If it happens,
it happens. If it doesn’t …” the unspoken words hung there.

Ginger looked at her friend. “A
re you afraid to meet someone?”

Harrie started to make a flippant remark, but stopped before it reached her lips. “Yes, I guess I am,” she admitted. “I haven’t had such good luck with men. The marriage to Nick was a nightmare. Then Mark came along, and he was wonderful. I had just started to feel safe when they came to my door that night
…” She broke off and swallowed hard.

“Sweetie, I know you felt your life was over. For a long time, I thought you would never co
me out of it, but you did. It’s been five years now. Every time I try to introduce you to someone, or when you meet someone on your own, you back away. You find something wrong with everyone before you even get to know them. Why can’t you just try?”

Harrie didn’t answer the question directly. “If something happened to Steve, would you try again?”

“You know Steve is my love and my life. He drives me crazy sometimes, and I’m sure he also has moments when he wonders why he wanted to marry me. But we have a wonderful life and two great kids. However, if something happened to him, I hope I’d have enough strength to go on and make a new life somewhere down the line. I know you have enough love in you to reserve a special place for Mark and still be able to love someone new. You told me yourself he sent you a message that you needed to move on. You said he would always watch over you. But he also said you had a life to live, and you’d better get on with it. Didn’t you tell me that?”

Harrie looked at Ginger and grinned. “The light is green, you know. That woman behind us will start honking if you don’t go now.”

“Okay, okay. Lecture is over, but you get my drift, right?” She eased her foot onto the gas pedal.

“I do indeed. You want me to stop the pity party and get a spine, and
” she held up her hand, “you want me to give the next poor sucker a break.”

“Well, that’s not the way I would have put it, but, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“Okay, if I promise to at least meet one of your bachelor buddies, will you give it a rest? Honestly, you’re worse than my mother.”

“Fine. Insult me all you want, but you know I’m right. And what do you mean ‘one of my bachelor buddies
’? Do you think I have them stashed in a closet somewhere?”

“
I wouldn’t doubt it. You always seem to have one who needs an escort for some party. I’m surprised you haven’t tried to fix me up with Senator Lawrence!”

“Now there’s an idea worth exploring
,” Ginger teased.

“Please tell me you aren’t serious
.” Harrie looked alarmed.

“Oh, get over yourself. What would a famous, distinguished man like Philip Lawrence want with a skinny kid like you? Besides, he has his own tragic love story.”

Harrie’s eyes widened. “You never told me anything about a tragic love story. What happened?”

“Some other time. It’ll take too long. One night soon, come over for dinner and I’ll fill you in.”

“This is a trick, right? You lure me to your house with the promise of good food and wine. Then, when I least expect it, you bring him out.”

“Bring
out who?”

“One of your closet bachelors, of course.”

“No, I think I’ll watch the parking lot in our complex. Eventually the tall, dark and handsome guy will show up again, and when he does, I’ll be ready for him. I’ll march out there, introduce myself, and tell him you are too shy to approach him yourself.”

“Oh, my
God, I’ll bet you would. Well, you better pray he doesn’t show up again, because he’ll think you are a lunatic, and he’ll have you arrested for stalking him. Then I’ll have to call Steve to get you out of jail.”

They were both laughing so hard they almost missed the turn into Canyon Estates. The mood in the car had definitely lightened
. Harrie felt better than she had all day and was ready to get back to work. Maybe tonight she would sleep without the dreams.

11

Tarnished silver clouds hung over the Sandia Mountains as Harrie and Ginger drove through the gate of Canyon Estates. The smell of moisture hung heavy in the air.

Harrie craned her head to get a better look at the sky. “Do you think it’s really going to rain this time?”

Ginger laughed. “Get serious. You know I haven’t had my car washed yet. It can’t possibly rain until I do that.”

A
s they parked, a dust devil passed over the car like a ghostly apparition. Ramona answered the door and led them to the library.

Philip read
and approved the edited pages of his book. Then he asked Harrie, “Did you read those articles?”

Harrie shifted in her chair. His directness and commanding presence were unsettling. “Most of them, but I s
ort of skimmed through the rest. There’s one thing we wondered about. What did the sheriff and his buddies do to Manny Salinas? It didn’t say specifically in the news articles.”

Philip sighed. “
What they did to poor old Manny was really horrible. They took him out in the desert, stripped his clothes and put a bicycle lock on his testicles. They thought that would force a confession out of him.”

Harrie gasped. “
That’s awful! How did they get away with it?”

“T
hey didn’t. Manny told his mother what happened, and she went straight to the FBI. They discovered the corruption that had been going on here for years. As I told you, gambling was rampant during that time, and officials were bribed to look the other way. It went all the way to the state government in Santa Fe. It was said that some of our congressional delegation were also bought and paid for. There were people who thought one of those higher office holders might have been involved with Chipper Finn or at least had some knowledge or involvement with her death.”

Harrie shook her head. “It’s hard to believe things were that bad. If they started cleaning things up, why didn’t they ever find her killer
?”

“Is that your real question?” Philip
Lawrence was certainly direct.

Harrie took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “Okay. Who do you think murdered Chipper Finn?”

Philip studied her face for a moment with those penetrating eyes. She could imagine him in a courtroom or on the floor of the senate, evaluating his opponent, looking for the weak points. She reminded herself she wasn’t an opponent and had no reason to feel intimidated.

After what seemed like minutes, he spoke. “Well, that is the question, isn’t it? I’m not prepared to answer just yet. Who do you think the culprit is?”

Harrie didn’t know what to say. Why ask her? Why would he think she knew anything about it? Then she remembered telling him about her dream. She said, “I didn’t know anything about this case before we started editing your book, so there’s no way I would know.”

Philip patted her hand in a soothing way. “
Maybe there is. I sense you have an unusual gift. Call it intuition, psychic ability, whatever you want, but you do sometimes know things, don’t you?”

Harrie didn’t want the conversation to continue in this direction. She looked to Ginger for help, but Ginger just sat there.

“I had a strong sense that you were in danger. I saw the body in the dream – the one I then saw here in the clipping – and I knew something else bad was going to happen.” She looked at him, her eyes pleading for understanding.

“What about the dream you had last night?” Ginger gave her a questioning look. “You said you saw a man. Maybe that’s the person who’s the threat.”

“But he didn’t have a face, and I’m not even sure it was a man. It was dark, and he, or whoever, was dressed in dark clothes and wearing a hooded jacket or sweater. Maybe that didn’t have anything to do with this,” Harrie finished lamely.

Philip watched her thoughtfully. “Then why do you think you dreamed something so frightening? Do you often have such nightmares?”

He sounded like a psychiatrist, and it was somewhat annoying.

“I doubt I have them any more often than anybody else. I’ve just had some since we started working on the book. Maybe I’m more open to suggestion than the average person.” Harrie paused and tried to sound less defensive before she continued. “You have more answers to these ques
tions than I do. You were there. You investigated. I don’t know anybody connected with this case except you, and I don’t know anybody like this spooky character from my dreams.”

Ginger spoke again. “What about the guy outside the office last night?”

Philip finally shifted his attention from Harrie to Ginger. “What guy?”

Ginger explained about their interview with Caroline Johnson and the person in the black SUV outside their office. Philip’s concern was apparent.

“Did anybody get a license number on this SUV?” he asked.

“
No,” Ginger said, sounding contrite.

“Did you happen to notice what kind of SUV it was?”

“You mean was it a Ford or a Chevrolet or something?”

Philip nodded. “
Yes. It would help to know that.”

Harrie shook her head, and looked at Ginger. Ginger shrugged her shoulders. “Who knows anymore? They all look alike to me.”

Philip spoke carefully. “I want you to stay alert and pay attention to what’s going on around you. If somebody really is watching you, we need to find out who and why.”

“
There’s no reason for anybody to be watching us,” Harrie said unconvincingly. “We don’t know anything.”

Ginger
said, “What about Sunglasses?”

Philip
looked confused. “Sunglasses?”

“
That’s what Harrie called the guy she encountered in the parking lot this morning. He may have driven a black SUV, too.”

Harrie protested. “I did not have an encounter. He just
helped me up after I slipped. I don’t know what kind of car he was in. I don’t even know if he had a car. Maybe he was walking or just got off the bus.”

Philip shook his head. “Ladies, we have to talk about this. Let’s sit over here, and you can explain just what you mean about him
helping you up off the ground.” He looked at Ginger. “And I need to know why you think he was driving a black SUV.”

Philip settled himself in the leather chair. Ginger related what she had seen through the office window that morning. Philip asked Harrie questions to get her part of the story.

“So you don’t think you’ve seen this man before?”

Harrie shook her head. Philip looked at Ginger, and she thought it over before she spoke.

“You know, I didn’t recognize him exactly, but he does look sort of familiar.”

Harrie almost choked on her coffee. “You never said anything about that. How would you know him?”

“I don’t know, but there was something about him. It’ll come to me. Give me a chance to sleep on it. I didn’t think it was important at the time.”

“Tell me about this woman you interviewed
,” said Philip.

“Caroline Johnson, and we did more than interview her. We hired her. She’s our new office manager. She’ll be fabulous.” She explained that Caroline had worked at Snow, Tessler, Knight
, and McConaghy and was the managing partner’s assistant.

Philip frowned. “
She was Jacob Snow’s assistant?”

“Yes
. Is there some significance to that?”

“
Perhaps. Did I tell you there were two brothers and a brother-in-law in the practice? Jacob Snow was the youngest and became the managing partner in 1952. Then there was Peter Templeton who married Rachel Snow, the middle sibling. Rachel was close to Daniel’s age. They were both much older than Jacob. Daniel and I were friends many years ago. Later on, I got to know Jacob rather well. I must have met Caroline Johnson during that period.”

Harrie
said, “You wouldn’t believe the weird prospects the employment agency sent us. I had given up until we interviewed Caroline. She was perfect for us, and she’s available right now. My only concern is that she seems almost too good to be true.”

Philip looked at the young women seated across from him. “Appearances can be de
ceiving.”

Harrie put her cup down. “That was one of my grandmother’s favorite sayings. She said it all the time.”

He sat back in his chair, and looked at them with his steely gaze. “Okay, then here’s another saying – If you think something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”