Burning Justice (5 page)

“
H
e was lying
through his teeth,” I said later to Artemis as I told him about my visit to Nathan Barrows.

At least I thought he was lying. The thing was he
had
seemed sincere, but maybe he was just a good actor. My mind drifted back to my first meeting with Evangeline, where I had been so sure that
she
had been lying. It turned out her suspicions were correct—maybe my internal lie detector was out of whack and I couldn’t tell who was lying and who wasn’t anymore.

“I can’t believe Lexy mentioned those tickets for the trip to the husband,” Artemis chuckled. “She is quite sly.”

I had to admit, Lexy had surprised me with that. She’d slipped it in beautifully and then covered it up by saying she was just a confused old lady. But I had seen the surprise in Nathan’s eyes. Clearly, he didn’t think anyone would find out about the tickets and it had rattled him. Lexy was pretty good. Maybe I should include her in more of my investigations.

“I have to wonder where Jenny was, though,” I said.

“Well, if she was in on it with him, it makes sense that she wouldn’t be there. She wouldn’t have to be the maid anymore, so why would she show up for work?”

“Good point. She probably
was
in on it, in which case it might be wise to pay her a visit.”

“I’ve already anticipated that you would come to that conclusion,” Artemis said proudly. “So, I’ve taken the liberty of researching her.”

“You have? But I don’t even know her last name.”

“We computers have ways of finding these things out.” His eyes sparkled mischievously and I could tell he was thrilled to be thinking one step ahead of me. “Her name is Jenny Sparks. She’s been working for the Barrows for one-and-a-half years. She currently lives at 420 Oak St., Apartment 22.”

“Oak Street—that’s just south of the city, right?”

Artemis nodded. “I’ve already programmed the route into your PTV. But if you would like me to come along and drive I would be more than happy.” Artemis tilted his head, giving me a hopeful look. He liked accompanying me on investigations. I figured that was probably because it saved him from sitting at home and thinking up new excuses as to why he hadn’t finished the housework. Sometimes, I even enjoyed his company. It was a heck of a lot better than being alone, and his computer brain, extensive knowledge and superior strength did come in handy. But I didn’t want to spook Jenny Sparks.

“Thanks, but I think I have to do this one alone.”

“As you wish.” The look of disappointment on his face was obvious. He glanced back at the Meal-A-Tron. “I have important work here, anyway.”

“Yeah, that would be great if you could fix it.” Artemis went back to tinkering with the Meal-A-Tron and my thoughts turned back to Jenny Sparks. Had she murdered Evangeline with Nathan, or was she just an innocent bystander? I noted her down as a potential suspect.

“Hey, while I’m gone, maybe you could look up some history on this Sparks person. How long she’s been a domestic. Who she worked for before the Barrows. If she has a criminal record—you know, that sort of thing.”

Artemis scowled up at me from his position on the floor. “What? Do you think I’m some kind of novice? Of course, I’ve
already
researched her.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? What did you find?”

“Well, that’s a strange thing. I didn’t really
find
anything. Jenny Sparks doesn’t seem to have any history. I couldn’t dig up a thing. It’s almost as if she never existed before she came to work for the Barrows.”

I
got
into my PTV with a sinking feeling about Jenny Sparks. How could she possibly have no history? It would be nearly impossible unless she’d assumed a fake identity. And usually one didn’t assume a fake identity unless they had something in their past they wanted hidden—like criminal activity … or possibly even murder.

Maybe Jenny and Nathan had killed Evangeline together to get her out of the way. It made perfect sense. Nathan would increase the insurance policy so they’d have a cushion of money. Sure, he was already rich, but maybe things weren’t as rosy as they looked on the surface. Evangeline had alluded to the fact that he was in trouble at work—maybe he needed money for that. However it had rolled out, Nathan and Jenny could be dangerous.

For once, Agatha didn't argue with me. She was probably still mad which was fine with me. I wouldn't miss her directing me down the wrong roads or screaming ‘take the right!’ ‘take the right!’ 'take the right!’ in her accent just as we came upon the road and it was almost impossible for me to turn.

Instead of being snarky, she simply proceeded to list out directions in a dull monotone and brought me just where I wanted to go.

The apartment building was an older style, boxy rectangle, three floors high with a plain red brick façade. The parking lot to the side of it had ample room for cars and I pulled into an empty spot.

I walked to the front, my stomach sinking when I saw the newfangled, computerized security system guarding the entrance. I figured it would give me a hard time just like most other computerized devices.

I pulled the glass door open and stepped into a small lobby. The security door separated me from the stairs that would lead to the apartments. To the right was a bank of mailboxes. Even though most people got their correspondence electronically, there were some institutions that refused to let go of using paper, so mailboxes were a necessity although the traditional mail carrier had long ago been replaced with mail drones.

I glanced around nervously to make sure one was not coming this way, but I could see by the pile of mail on the floor that a delivery had already been made. The drone, just as snarky as a product delivery drone, had scattered the mail on the floor instead of placing it in the boxes.

The security system was a two-foot square, shiny metal plate. A small, black hole in the top indicated a camera was watching my every move. I doubted a person was behind the camera, but the goings-on in the lobby were probably being recorded in some computer database somewhere.

A keypad sat in the middle of the plaque for the residents to enter their code and gain entry. There was another button for nonresidents.

I stepped up and pressed the button.

“May I help you?” a snotty nasal-toned voice blared out of the box.

“I’m here to visit Jenny Sparks.” I acted as if she knew I was coming.

“Really?” I could almost feel the computer sizing me up. “And just what is the nature of your business?”

“Just to visit. You can just buzz me and I’ll head on up.”

“Oh, I think you'll have to do better than that for me to buzz you in.” Clearly the computer was impressed with its own power of keeping riff-raff like me out of the inner sanctum. I shifted my weight and rolled my eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, young lady,” the computer said.

I debated pulling out my badge, but I didn’t want to tip Jenny off that I was a private investigator. Besides, security systems didn’t really put much weight on a private investigator’s badge. Not like they did with the police. I decided to try another tactic.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but a terrible tragedy has happened at Jenny’s place of employment. I’ve come to see if she needs anything.”

“Of course I’ve heard. I’m a model X3CP security system. I’m tied into the Internet and have the interests of my residents programmed into my database. I know everything that is going on with them.”

Creepy. Who wants a security system to know everything that’s going on with them? Then again, Artemis acted like security for me and he pretty much knew everything that was going on in my life.

“Okay, then, so you know she must be terribly upset. Just buzz me in and I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“Not necessary. She’s okay.”

I narrowed my eyes at it. “How do you know that? Can you see into her apartment?”

“No, but she’s already left for the day. She seemed quite fine when she passed through the lobby at eight a.m..”

I stood there, stunned. Left for the day? “Where did she go?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

These infernal machines were so frustrating.

“Are you looking for Jenny?” The voice came from behind me and I spun around to find a little old lady leaning on a purple aluminum three-legged cane. She couldn’t have been more than four feet tall when she wasn’t all hunched over like she was now. Wisps of white hair stood up from her head. Her skin was so pale she was almost invisible, but she blinked at me with sparkly, cornflower blue eyes that telegraphed intelligence and mischief.

“Yes. In fact, I was looking for Jenny. Do you know her?”

She leaned on her cane and tilted her head to the right, looking up at me. “Oh, I know her a little bit. I’m Gerta Beavers. I live down the hall from her. I don’t know her very well, though. Jenny keeps to herself. Didn’t have but one friend who came to visit.”

She started to bend down toward the mail on the floor. Her bones made alarming creaking and snapping noises. “Those darned drones, they do this almost every time. It’s a good thing I don’t get too much of this snail mail. I do like the catalogs, though.”

“Let me get that for you.” I dove for the mail so as to avoid her falling flat on the floor right in front of me.

“Thank you. Just this mail here.” She pointed a gnarled finger toward several catalogs that were lying in a slipshod pile. “The rest of it is for the other residents.”

I scooped up the catalogs and handed them to her, wondering if she could give me any more information about Jenny. “I don’t know if you’ve heard what happened at Jenny’s employers, the Barrows …” I let my voice trail off.

She nodded. “Oh, yes, I have a police scanner that I listen to religiously. In fact, I went over to see if Jenny was all right soon as I heard this morning. I didn’t know if she’d heard the news yet.”

“And had she?”

Gerta's face puckered. “I can’t rightly say, but I assume she must have.”

“Why do you say that?”

“When I opened my door, Jenny was already out in the hallway. I called to her. ‘Yoo Hoo Jenny!’ I asked her if she was okay and she didn’t even turn around. She just waved her hand in the air and kept on going full steam ahead down the hallway, dragging that purple leopard print suitcase behind her.”

I
went back
to my office just in case a new client showed up. I still had Evangeline’s money and felt like I should be doing something for her, especially since the police didn’t seem interested in investigating. I hadn’t heard anything from Tony or Hale on the information I'd given them, but I didn’t really expect them to keep me up to date.

What I’d discovered about Jenny Sparks was interesting. Was it possible that Jenny was in this as deep as Nathan? A lot of clues were piling up fast and I needed to get my thoughts organized, so I pulled out my tablet and opened up my mind-mapping application.

The mind-mapping app helped me organize my thoughts. I usually made a separate ‘bubble’ for each suspect and clue. Then I could connect them with lines and move them around electronically on the screen as well as put them on a timeline so as to get a picture of the actual crime.

The first bubble, I made for Nathan’s flimsy alibi. He claimed he had gone to their cabin which was conveniently secluded. There was no one around to indicate otherwise but also no one to corroborate it. I needed to figure out how to prove his whereabouts that night.

The second, I marked for the crime scene. I didn’t have the advantage of knowing about any of the evidence the police had found. Was there some way I could find out more about the crime scene on my own? I made a note to try to talk to one of the neighbors. The houses on Lake Street were set far apart, but maybe I could find someone who had seen something going on in the backyard, or maybe seen Nathan or his car there that night.

My third bubble was labeled Jenny Sparks. She was in on this somehow—her behavior was too suspicious for her not to be. Plus Evangeline had suspected she was having an affair with Nathan—who I put in the fourth bubble. Had she used one of the tickets that Nathan had purchased? But she couldn’t have, because the tickets were for next week and she had left with luggage this morning. I made a note to have Artemis check all the transportation databases to see if he could find out where Jenny had gone.

Was it possible that Jenny was behind this on her own? I had gotten the sense that Nathan was telling the truth, but he could be an accomplished liar. Why would Jenny kill Evangeline and then leave? If she wanted Nathan all to herself, it didn’t make sense that she would leave.

I doubted Jenny would have another motive other than to get Evangeline out of the way. She wouldn’t benefit from the money directly so she had to be in on it with Nathan—he was the only one who would benefit from the insurance policy … but Nathan was already rich. Why would he need more money?

Which reminded me of Evangeline's suspicions about Nathan having trouble at work—bubble number five. She'd said something about 'moving' money which sounded like embezzlement to me. Barrows Investments was a big company with lots of people's money.

So far, there was no hint of any wrongdoing at the company, so how could I find out more about it? I needed to talk to someone inside the company. His brother? No, I doubted the brother would say anything about it and he’d already ‘met’ me as Lexy’s granddaughter. I was sure he’d become suspicious and clam up right away if I started trying to get information out of him. I’d have to ask around and see if I knew of anyone who worked at Barrows Investments who I could talk to.

The other thing that was niggling at the back of my brain was how Nathan had claimed Evangeline and Jenny were friends. That didn’t match with what Evangeline had told me. Who would be friends with someone they thought their husband was cheating with?
And
pay for facials and 'girly' stuff? But why would Nathan lie about that? Clearly, he must have had an ulterior motive. Maybe it was just to throw us off track so we wouldn’t suspect the affair. And maybe that’s why Jenny left—they were trying to distance themselves from each other so as to deflect suspicion from their murderous partnership.

Gerta had mentioned one friend who came to visit Jenny. Was that friend Evangeline? And if they were friends, why wouldn't Evangeline have mentioned it to me?

Maybe I should take another trip over to Jenny’s apartment building and talk to Gerta—she seemed like the type that kept an eye on the goings on. Maybe she’d know more about Jenny … maybe she’d seen Nathan there.

I connected the Jenny and Nathan bubbles, then moved the others around. But it didn’t help much, the only thing that I discovered was that I needed a lot more information.

I had a sneaking suspicion there was more going on here than met the eye. I wondered what the police had discovered. They would have probably talked to the neighbors already. They might have found an eyewitness who saw something going on that night at the boat. But how could I get that information? I knew Hale probably wouldn’t talk to me, but would Royce?

I sighed and leaned forward to study the mind map, trying to find a clue in the sequence of events. But they didn’t really tell me much.

Evangeline had come to me suspecting Nathan of wanting to kill her.

Nathan was having an affair and possibly pulling some shenanigans at his company.

Nathan claimed to be out of town the night Evangeline was killed.

Nathan bought two tickets to Star Island after Evangeline’s death and denied buying them.

The next day, Jenny, the domestic who Nathan was having the affair with, takes off with her things packed in a suitcase.

Mr. Caffeine gleamed suggestively in the corner. Good idea. Some caffeine might help me think better.

The green power light glowed brighter as I approached. “I hope you’re not going to ask for a latte. My powdered milk pod is empty.”

I stood on my tiptoes to peer over Mr. Caffeine so I could see the pod slots in the back of the machine. He was right, powdered milk was out. I opened the cabinet and rummaged around. No powdered milk pods.

“You’d be best to order the tea anyway. There’s hardly any calories and you can benefit from the anti-aging properties.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I scowled at the machine then wondered if my scowling was causing the permanent frown line in my forehead.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that you’re not getting any younger. I recommend green tea.”

Green tea actually did sound good. I thought about Lexy and Cassie and how well they were doing in their mid-nineties. They drank a lot of green tea. “Okay, I’ll have a green tea.”

“Excellent.”

I stuck my mug under the spout and listened to the whirring, bubbling and gurgling noises. A teabag dropped into the cup, and then steaming water sputtered out of the machine.

“There you go!” Mr. Caffeine exclaimed cheerfully, then his voice turned more serious. “Oh, dear. I seem to have spilled some water on the credenza. Sorry, but it’s hard to make beverages without leaving a trace.”

I wiped up the spill while I thought about Mr. Caffeine’s words. It was hard to do anything without leaving a trace.

One thing had been bothering me about the boat fire. How did Nathan get Evangeline on the boat and then blow it up without blowing himself up? That must have taken some planning and planning leaves a trail of evidence. No matter how clever a criminal is, there’s always at least one clue that trips him up. I was sure this case was no different. Now all I had to do was figure out what that one clue was.