Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) (12 page)

Annie called at noon and requested a powwow with Jake and Rob after work. She said Jake had something big to talk about, and Annie hoped a solution was in sight.

• • •

• • •

T
hey met at Martin’s on First. It was a sports bar and there was commentary running about the BCS—the college football conference—and which teams were likely to win each conference. It would be easy enough to tune out for everyone but Rob. As a sports reporter, he just had a harder time ignoring the games and statistics displayed on screen. With that in mind, Cam made him sit with his back to the nearest screen and kept a loving hand on the back of his neck just to remind him where his focus belonged. Facing away from the TV, the gang could hold his attention, especially given Jake’s intense expression. It was unusual for Jake to get there first, and it looked a lot like he had bad news.

“Uh-oh,” Cam said as she sat Rob down and scooted up beside him. Annie was apparently running late, though they generally referred to that as Annie time.

“I think we’ve got a dirty-cop problem.”

Cam wasn’t sure what to say to that, but Rob, the reporter, was always ready to plow ahead.

“How dirty?”

“Covering evidence dirty. There was a lead that one of the guys told me about—something from the cell phone records. He was going to show me to see if it rang any bells or if it overlapped with the murder, but the sheet from the cell phone company is gone.”

“You can just request that again, right? It’s not like it erases the information,” Rob said.

“It takes a few days, but the real problem is if we have trouble inside, I’m worried about this getting solved.”

“Is that enough to say it’s a dirty cop?” Rob asked. “Maybe it’s because of the kidnapping protocol.”

“Well, that could be, but we also got the tapes from the country club, and all but the main party in the garden is blank. The security guard said it looked like they were all erased, but they missed this one because of the back-up process.”

“So can we see what happened to Annie’s dad?” Cam said.

Rob shook his head, but Jake froze momentarily.

Annie must have just walked through the door, as Jake and Rob both looked like they’d seen a ghost.

“There’s bad news about my dad, isn’t there?”

“Sort of,” Jake said. “I just suspect one of the cops on the case might be hiding stuff, and I’m worried, as it’s the guy running the kidnapping investigation.”

“So what do we do about it?” Cam said.

“We? Nothing,”

“Come on, Jake,” Rob said. “We’ve shown we’re good at this. Wouldn’t it be better to work
with
us for a change?”

Jake looked uncomfortable at the request, but finally nodded. “Okay, but at the first solid indication that there is a dirty cop tampering with evidence, I have to report what I’ve found, and I can’t give any of you credit, or I get in trouble for endangering civilians.”

“Have we succeeded in making a sneak out of you?” Annie said. She wore a brave face, but Cam knew it was a front. This was bad news and Annie was scared.

“So we’re a team?” Cam asked.

Jake squinted. “I guess. I just wish I knew how this was supposed to go. He is the one coordinating with the FBI, and I’ve never done it.”

“Maybe this will help. We will share what
we’ve
got,” Cam said.

“You know I can’t officially endorse you investigating, right?”

“It’s Annie’s dad!”

“Besides,” Rob said. “We sort of dig this investigative stuff.” He took a large drink from his beer and grinned.

Jake shook his head. “You two are incorrigible.”

“Good thing they are,” Annie said.

Jake put his arm around Annie and kissed her temple, then turned back to Cam and Rob.

“So what do you have?” Jake asked, looking at Cam.

“Annie heard from Louise who overheard an argument when Elle was on the phone. She yelled at a guy named Sully, and it sounded like it was maybe about money.”

“Overheard?”

“She’s the housekeeper.” There was no way Cam was confessing to literally bugging the house, especially as the equipment had been “borrowed” from Jake in the first place.

She didn’t think Jake believed her, but it didn’t matter. He had the information now.

“And Annie and I asked someone in the gambling circuit locally about a Sully. And Annie used a computer program to put this together.” She set the composite picture on the table.

“I recognize that guy,” Jake said. “I have to break up some high-stakes poker now and then, and he’s there.”

“His name is Mike Sullivan. And not only was Sully talking to Elle, he’s the son-in-law of Derrick Windermere.”

“Sullivan. Sully. Crap,” Jake said.

“You got there, did you?” Cam asked.

“A motive for our dirty cop. The officer coordinating the kidnapping? He’s a guy by the name of Len Sullivan. Dollars to doughnuts these two are brothers or something. Len looks a lot like that.”

“That was sort of what we guessed when you said the name Sullivan to me earlier,” Cam said. “It sounds like a motive to hide evidence.”

“But Len’s not a bad guy. Maybe he just wanted to take care of this himself—go directly to this other . . . Sully . . . and find out what he could. I don’t know how we missed a son-in-law on our murder suspect list, though.”

Annie’s phone buzzed. She looked at the screen in confusion, but answered.

“Hello? Wait . . . Dad? Slow down!”

And then the call was cut off.

“Shoot!”

“Your dad called?”

“Yeah. He sounded . . . well . . . out of breath, and a little confused.”

“Let’s get that to the station and see if they can tell anything about the call,” Jake said.

Annie nodded and the two of them rushed out.

“This will be weird, won’t it?” Rob said.

“What will?”

“Working
with
Jake for a change.”

Cam laughed. It definitely would. She wondered if she and Jake would get along better or worse. They were both control freaks, so she worried this cooperation might turn out to be anything but.

“Speaking of Jake,” Rob said. “He told me a little from canvassing the party guests . . .”

Cam figured he’d go on, but he was lost in thought. “And?” she probed.

“And it’s a quagmire. Everybody has theories and there is no shortage of dislike for Windermere, but there are too many things to make a pattern out of.”

“What do you think our next steps are?” Cam asked.

“Well, I’d think talking to Elle might be smart. She is a central piece here—connected to this Sully character. Maybe she can clear this all up.”

“Or we’d be alerting her to cover up something worse.”

“You still think she did this?” Rob asked.

“It doesn’t make sense, really, except if she’s involved with this Sully, who is also related to the other case. But if he is involved in a murder . . . that really puts Senator Schulz in danger.”

“Think about the murder method, though . . . flowerpot. Who would think that would actually kill someone?” Maybe he really was just a witness and he wasn’t meant to end up dead.”

“A witness who happened to be his father-in-law? No. If Sully did this, he’d know his father-in-law could ID him.”

Rob sighed.

• • •

• • •

I
t turned out the phone call from Annie’s dad had come from a prepaid phone, so there was no way to trace it, but Jake was very keen on another visit to Elle after what they’d learned. The four of them set out in Cam’s car again, and drove to the Schulzes’.

Annie rang the bell and nobody answered. It was after Louise had gone home, so they waited a few minutes and rang again. Finally, Annie got impatient and pulled out her key.

The house was silent once Annie had disarmed the alarm.

“Guess we have a search opportunity, even if there’s nobody to question,” she said. She sounded nervous, though. Cam thought the same idea had crossed Annie’s mind as had crossed her own—what if Elle had been taken, too?

“Annie, we can’t . . .” Jake began.

“Jake, this is my father’s house and there is an open invitation,” she snapped, revealing her worry. Then she took a breath and tried to get back to herself. “I respect Elle . . .”

Cam coughed at that, which brought an evil grin from Annie. Cam was glad Annie took strength from Cam’s display of support.

“So I don’t do it when she’s here,” Annie continued, “but I know my dad would want me to look for clues.”

Cam knew it was part bravado and all justification, but that was okay with her. She thought it was definitely possible there were clues in the house somewhere, and finding them would be good, whether they were only looking for clues about Senator Schulz or he and his wife, both. And at least Jake seemed to mostly buy the argument, though he said he couldn’t participate without the appearance of impropriety.

Annie pointed Jake to the kitchen and told him to get them all a snack while the rest of them snooped properly, then headed straight for the stairs. Cam followed her.

“Cam?” Rob said, seeking instruction.

“Start with the study—her study.” She pointed at the room, though it was hardly necessary. The his and hers décors couldn’t have been more different.

Jake went to the kitchen, as directed, but shouted every once in a while about how uncomfortable he was about the whole thing.

“What did your buddy say? Have they even been here?” Rob shouted from the study.

Cam could swear she heard, “Damn rookies,” from the kitchen as she went back to climbing the stairs.

Cam had to jog to catch Annie, but she was in the room where Cam suspected she’d be: Elle’s bedroom.

“Anything telling from Cruella?” she asked.

“Not sure yet. I don’t know what I’m looking for.”

“She and your dad don’t share a room?”

“Sort of. I think there’s a his, hers, and theirs. There are three bedrooms they use, anyway. I’ve never asked, but I remember my mom saying Dad snored, so if I didn’t think things were weird, I might blame that.”

Snoring kept Cam awake, too. Thankfully, Rob only did it when he had a cold, but she’d had a college roommate who snored, so she knew if she had the option, she’d sleep elsewhere, too.

“Have you told your mom about any of this?” Cam asked.

“Mom is singularly uninterested in anything to do with Dad.”

“But this has to do with you, too. Your dad is missing and you’re her daughter.”

Annie sighed. “I guess.”

“Call her.”

“Yeah, but then she might
come here
. You know . . . to be supportive.”

Cam knew the deal. It was almost funny, actually. Annie and her dad didn’t agree on anything, but could have fun and enjoy each other’s company. Annie and her mom agreed on almost everything but had a very hard time sharing space. Her mom just tried to take over on the problem solving, even when there weren’t any real problems to solve.

“You still should tell her. Maybe before you call her come up with a reason she’d be in the way that doesn’t sound offensive,” Cam suggested.

“Like that she’d be a suspect.”

“Yeah, work with that.”

“So what are we looking for?” Annie asked.

“Evidence that Elle would want your dad gone? A connection to Derrick Windermere? Maybe a connection to Melvin Entwhistle?”

“What about evidence she’s flown the coop?” Annie said.

“Like gone nuts? Or left town?”

“Both? But what I have is a missing toothbrush, makeup bag. I’m sure there should be more in here.”

Cam followed Annie into the bathroom.

“Yeah, that sounds fishy. Why would she leave when her husband was missing if she had nothing to do with it?”

“Exactly. Maybe to meet this
Sully
.”

“So how would we confirm it?” Cam asked. It seemed like a toothbrush was only minorly damning. She’d known people, herself included, who took their toothbrush in their purse if they had a long day and wanted to be fresh after a meal or snack. Then again, Elle didn’t exactly seem like the kind of woman who had an evening filled with meetings very often. She didn’t work. She might have appointments related to the investigation, or maybe along the line of the one she’d found Evangeline in that morning. But Cam thought those were more likely to be during the day.

“Call Louise. This is weird,” Cam said. “Find out when she left and when she said she’d be back.”

Annie nodded and Cam opened a closet. There was an unzipped suitcase in it, possibly because a smaller one had been removed from the inside. Her own nested that way, and she thought that was pretty normal.

When Annie came back she looked dejected.

“Elle sent her home at two. She said she had a guest coming and wanted some privacy.”

“But then she left? Definitely suspicious.”