Costume Catastrophe (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 21) (7 page)

“Do you have any idea who would have wanted Joey dead?”

Clint paused again. I hoped he was considering my question, not just taking a minute to come up with some phony story to throw me off.

“I suppose if I were investigating Joey’s death I’d have a chat with Albert Adams. You know he’s in town? Has been since last Friday.”

Albert had gone to Ashton Falls High School, the same as Joey and me, but he’d been a year or two ahead of us. He’d left the area after graduating and I hadn’t seen him since, although one of his brothers still lived in town, so it made sense he might visit occasionally.

“Why would Albert kill Joey?” I asked.

“Not everyone knows this, but Albert was on track to get a football scholarship until Joey, Tommy, and Levi made the varsity team as sophomores and took over the bulk of the available playing time from the seniors who had worked their way to the top of the food chain.”

“There are a lot more than three players on a team,” I pointed out.

“Maybe, but the scouts are only really looking at the players who are flashy and bank impressive stats. Albert was the go-to wide receiver until Joey came onto the scene and took over the spotlight. His parents were broke; when Albert didn’t get a scholarship he lost his chance to go to college. Now he works at a pizza joint in the valley. I ran into him in one of the local bars over the weekend and he was crying in his drink about how Joey stole his life.”

“That’s crazy. Joey was just a better football player than he was. If Albert really wanted to go to college, he could have applied for other types of scholarships or taken out a student loan.”

“Maybe. Still, it seemed to me that Albert blamed Joey for his lack of success in life. I guess if you turn out to be less than you’d hoped it’s easier to blame someone else for your problems.”

I supposed Clint could be right. People who weren’t successful oftentimes did look for someone else to blame for their misfortune. “Where were you on Monday afternoon between three and five?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was right here. You can ask any of my employees.”

“Okay; well, thanks for your time.”

“So about that Mustang…”

I glanced at the front of the showroom, where the car was displayed. It was pretty but completely impractical for mountain living. “Thanks, but I need a four-wheel drive with plenty of room for dogs, kids, and soccer gear.”

“Boring.”

“That’s me. Boring soccer mom.” I waved and left.

Clint was probably innocent, but it was beginning to sound like there might be something behind the paranoid behavior Clint and Todd had referred to in Joey.

As I left the dealership I called Salinger. Maybe Clint’s lead regarding Albert wasn’t as far-fetched as it had sounded at first. It had been twelve years since Albert had graduated from high school and it seemed unlikely he’d kill Joey after all this time, but at this point I wasn’t willing to ignore any lead no matter how unlikely. Salinger was unavailable, so I left a message and then looked up the number for Albert’s brother. His sister-in-law answered the phone and told me that he’d gone over to the high school to watch football practice. I called Zak to tell him I was heading to the high school but would be home directly after that, then returned to the car and headed in that direction.

I found Albert sitting on the bleachers, watching the boys run through their drills. There were several other people sitting in the stands while the boys practiced; luckily, Albert was sitting alone. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to broach the subject of his rant in the bar. Unlike everyone else I had spoken to that day, I didn’t know Albert all that well. I certainly hadn’t kept in touch after he graduated.

“The boys look good,” I said as I sat down next to him.

“I guess they’re okay. Not as good as the team we had when I was here.”

“I think you were two years ahead of me, and you’re right, the team we had when you were a senior was one of the best there’s ever been.”

“Actually, I think the team we had when I was a junior was the best,” Albert countered.

In other words, the team they’d had before Tommy, Joey, and Levi had been brought up to the varsity team.

“You know the Ashton Falls team made state last year?”

“I heard. See number sixty-five?” Albert pointed to the field.

“Yeah, I see him. I think Levi told me he’s a sophomore he brought up to the junior varsity team this year.”

“He’s my older brother’s kid.”

Of course. I did seem to remember his last name was Adams. I hadn’t made the connection. “I hear he’s really good.”

“Better than good. He’s got that special something to go all the way. Feel bad for the poor senior who gets bumped out by a mere sophomore, though. It’s a rough way to spend your last season on the team.”

“I guess you would know. Seems like I remember Joey Waverly doing that to you.”

Albert shook his head, as if he was trying to shake loose a memory.

“I guess you heard Joey was killed earlier in the week.”

“Yeah, I heard. I wasn’t a fan of the guy who stole what should have been mine, but getting shot in the back seems like a rough way to go. Did Joey ever get married and have kids?”

“He married but never had kids. He’s divorced now.”

“Can’t believe the guy stole the scholarship that should have been mine and then never even used it. I heard he worked for the power company. What a waste.”

I leaned forward so that my elbows rested on my knees as I looked out at the field of talented boys. “I guess not everyone dreams of going pro.”

“Maybe not, but it seems like those of us who do have big dreams should have priority over the ones who don’t when it comes to playing time.”

I’d managed to strike up a conversation with someone I barely knew, but I still had no idea how I was going to work my way around to asking if the guy had killed Joey. An abrupt question in that regard would most likely get me nowhere.

“So, have you enjoyed your visit to Ashton Falls so far?” I figured maybe I could get him talking about what he’d been doing and get an alibi in a roundabout way, if he did indeed have one.

“It’s been okay. Been a while since I visited, so it’s good to spend time with the family.”

“Are you here alone or are the wife and kids with you?”

“Never married. I do enjoy watching my nephew tear up the field, though. Guess I’ll miss out on sharing that with my own kid.”

“I don’t have children, but I do have two kids living with me, and I know what you mean about kids’ sports. I enjoy the endless soccer and baseball seasons a lot more than I thought I would.”

“My brother’s younger kid plays soccer. Went to his game on Monday. Talk about a hoot.”

Soccer started at four, which meant Albert most likely was at that game when Joey was killed. I supposed I could verify that with the coach of the team his nephew played with. “What team is your nephew on?”

“The Raiders.”

“The boy who lives with me is on the Generals. I think the two teams will play each other next week, if you’re still in town.”

Albert shrugged. “Might be. Haven’t decided yet. Thought I might look up Tommy Payton. Heard he’s in town. I hated him quite a lot when we were in school, but he used the scholarship he was awarded. I might want to see how things turned out for him.”

“I spoke to Tommy today. He’ll be around all week. I’m sure he’d like to see you if it works out.”

Albert didn’t answer, but it seemed like he most likely wasn’t the killer.

“I should get going,” I added as Levi called an end to the practice. “It was good talking to you.”

“Yeah, you too. That cute little friend of yours still single?”

“Ellie?”

“Yeah, the brunette. Been thinking about finding someone to spend time with while I’m in town.”

“Ellie isn’t married, but she isn’t really dating right now, so I doubt she’d be interested. There’s a street dance on Saturday night. It might be a good place to meet single women.”

“Not much of a dancer, but I guess I could just hang out on the sidelines like I used to do in high school.”

“Could be fun. There are a lot of events going on in town. I’m sure you won’t be bored while you’re here. I’ll see you at the game on Saturday, if not before.”

I got up and headed for home.

Chapter 5

Later that evening, Zak and I settled into his office after we’d had dinner and the kids were settled down with their homework. I curled up on the sofa that was situated in front of the small fireplace that had been built into the corner of the large room. I pulled a comforter over my legs, which seemed to serve as an invitation for Charlie, Marlow, and Spade to all join me.

“So, what did you find out about Joey?” I asked Zak, who was seated in the leather chair across from me. He’d indicated earlier in the day that he had news to share and I was anxious to hear what it was. So far we hadn’t heard of any more deaths, which I took as a positive sign.

Zak slipped off his shoes before resting his feet on the ottoman in front of him. “Several things, actually.” Zak absently scratched Bella’s head while he spoke. “I started off by looking into Joey’s finances. It appeared he was broke, so I dug a little deeper and found out that he’d been fired from his job two months ago.”

“Fired? Why? He’s worked for the power company for a long time.”

“The human resources department was reluctant to talk to me, so I called Salinger to ask if he’d be willing to follow up. Of course he was thankful for the lead and did just that. It turns out Joey had been acting odd the last month he worked for the company, and while they tried talking to him, in the end they had to let him go.”

“Odd how?”

“Agitated and paranoid.”

That fit what people were telling me. Agitation could definitely lead to fighting, especially when alcohol was added to the mix.

“Seems he filed several reports with his superiors about people following him or watching him from a house across the street while he worked. He was certain he was being stalked, but the problem was that he reported being watched from a bunch of different houses on a bunch of different streets all over town. His superiors tried to explain that it was highly unlikely that he was being watched from all those houses, but he was convinced he was being watched, and the more certain he was that he was being spied on, the more agitated he became.”

“Do you think he
was
being stalked?” I asked. “I mean, he did end up dead. Maybe he wasn’t crazy. Maybe he was right.”

Zak adjusted his position before answering. “I’m not sure,” he eventually said. “The fact that he was shot in the back does seem to support his assertion that he was being stalked, but there are other reasons—medical reasons—that could explain his behavior as well. Salinger is having the medical examiner take another look. We’ll know more once he determines whether there might have been a medical reason for Joey’s behavior.”

“The fact that he was fired explains why he stopped paying his alimony, although I don’t know why he didn’t just tell Margo about the loss of his job. She seemed to think he was just flaking.”

“As far as I can tell, Joey didn’t tell anyone he’d been fired. We know he told Levi he was going to go to the haunted house after work, and Salinger spoke to his closest neighbors, who all said he left for work over the past month dressed in his power company uniform, the same as he had every other day since he’d lived there.”

I frowned. “Why would he do that? It makes no sense. It isn’t like he had a wife he was trying to hide his recent unemployment from.”

Zak shrugged. “Beats me. It would seem that rather than pretending to go to work every day it would have been a better use of his time to look for another job.”

“Which leads to the question of where it was he went every day.”

“Salinger is looking into that,” Zak informed me. “He figures someone must have seen him somewhere. This is a pretty small town and Joey was well known. On another note, Salinger told me that he’s looking at Clint Masterson.”

“I spoke to Clint. He said he was at work at the car dealership on Monday.”

“Did you verify that?”

Actually, I hadn’t. Man, I was slipping. “No. I didn’t think to follow through at all. He said he was at work and I took his word for it. He didn’t seem guilty.”

“Salinger told me that he has a witness who claims Joey came into the bowling alley and accused Clint of spying on him.”

“Yeah, Clint told me that.”

“Did he tell you that he responded by threatening the man?”

“No. He left that part out.”

“Salinger planned to have a chat with him this afternoon. I haven’t heard how it went, but I wouldn’t take him off your list just yet.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t ask more questions when I spoke to Clint.” I really was upset with myself.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You aren’t a cop and you haven’t been trained in interrogation. Salinger is also looking at Kenny Brantley.”

Spade got up from his resting place on the sofa and jumped down onto the floor. He trotted out the door, I assumed to head to Alex’s room. While both Marlow and Spade spent time with me, they both clearly had decided they preferred to sleep with Alex and whatever animals she was fostering at the moment.

“Why does Salinger suspect Kenny?” I asked after Marlow repositioned himself to take advantage of Spade’s absence.

“He was hired on full-time at the power company after Joey was fired. Joey thought Kenny was behind his being let go. He was pretty vocal about it. The day Joey was shot Kenny and Joey got into a heated argument at the diner where they both happened to go for lunch. Kenny threatened to use force to shut Joey up if he didn’t stop slandering him.”

I didn’t know Kenny well. He’d only moved to Ashton Falls a couple of years ago and we didn’t travel in the same circles, though Tawny Upton had dated him for a while, so I’d been introduced to him. I could see how it would get irritating if someone was going around town saying bad things about you, but to shoot someone because of it?