Marcie's Murder (9 page)

“Right,” Branham said, shaking hands. “This is Detective Karen Stainer. We’re here to see Brother Charles Baker.”

“Nice to meet you, Detective,” Brother Miles said. He waited for Karen to offer to shake hands, and when she didn’t, he smiled and nodded before turning back to Branham.

“I’ll see if he’s available. Is it a personal matter, or business?”

“
Police
business,” Branham said. “A
homicide
investigation.”

“Oh,
well,
I see.
He should be in his office. Follow me.”

Brother Miles led them through the reception area to the main staircase. As they went up the stairs to the second floor, Karen stared at the back of the man’s head. She
’
d been put off by the cassock and the oily personality. It was a point in his favor that he
’
d discarded the receptionist bullshit as soon as Branham told him they weren’t there to compare sugar pie recipes, but it didn’t do anything to lessen her dislike of the place. Religious fanaticism set her teeth on edge.

On the second floor Brother Miles showed them
in
to a large room
furnished with
a round wooden meeting table and chairs.

“This is our meeting room,” he said. “No phone, no interruptions. Brother Charles will be with you right away.”

Within two minutes they were joined by a tall bearded man
who also wore a
white cassock. Karen was standing just inside the door and he approached her first.

“I’m Brother Charles Baker,” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Detective Stainer,” Karen said,
hesitating.
What the hell
. She shook
his hand. His grip was firm and dry, business-like. He was the man she
’
d seen this morning outside the donut shop. Up close, he looked nothing like Hank
. H
is face was longer and the skin looked pasty
. H
is nose was hooked like an eagle’s beak, where Hank’s was straight and
normal sized
. H
is brow was higher
and his eyes were a watery blue
, where Hank
’s heavy brow gave his brown eyes a brooding look.
This guy’s
reddish-
brown hair was short and
slightly
wavy, where Hank’s
chestnut
brown hair was frizzy, and
the monk’s
beard was quite long, where Hank kept his
beard
trimmed short.
Th
ey were about the same height
but this guy was about twenty
pounds
heavier than Hank
. Karen could believe that an eyewitness catching a
one-second
glimpse of this guy through a kitchen window at night
might
mistake him for Hank
from a distance when Hank was getting into his car to leave the bar
.
Otherwise, though, you’d have to be blind not to see the differences.

“Deputy Chief,” Brother Charles said, moving around the table to shake Branham’s hand. “
Good to see you again
. Please, sit down. What can I do for you?”

“Do you drive a white pickup truck, Brother Charles? Dodge Ram?”

“Yes, I do. It’s mostly used for farm work, but I borrow it occasionally when the administration car, the
Ford Focus
, isn’t available.”

“Were you in Harmony this morning, driv
ing the pickup?” Branham asked.

“Yes, I was.”

“What about Saturday night? Were you in Harmony Saturday night?”

“What’s this about? Was there a traffic violation or something?” Brother Charles frowned. “I don’t remember doing anything wrong.”

“Please just answer the question, Brother Charles. Were you in Harmony Saturday night?”

Brother Charles leaned back and sighed. “Yes, I suppose I was.”

“About what time?”

“Later in the evening.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Late.”

“How late?”

“Close to midnight, I guess.”

I guess
. Karen eased her chair away from the table a few inches. This guy was definitely going for a ride. She looked at his hands, resting lightly on the table in front of him. They were large hands, with thick fingers. She could imagine them around the neck of some woman, strangling the life out of her.

“Were you
at
Gerry’s
Bar
about midnight?” Branham asked.

“Yes, I was.” Brother Charles
spread his hands
. “Look, I take it that someone saw me there and reported it to you.
I’m guessing this is
in
connect
ion
with
the killing of Mrs. Askew.
It was in the news
. I was there Saturday night, but I didn’t see anything that could help you.”

“Why were you there?”

“I’d rather not say, if you don’t mind. It’s confidential.”

“
We do mind, pal
,” Karen glared. “T
his is a homicide investigation.”
She
pointed a finger at him. “
T
he victim was strangled to death
right around the time you were there
by someone with hands about the size of your hands. Why’d you kill her? Was she going to spill the beans on the affair you two were having, spoil this great setup you guys have
got
here?”

“No, no,” Brother Charles replied, aghast. “Nothing like that at all. Killing is abhorrent. I don’t even kill insects if I can avoid it, let alone a human being. I was at that bar, yes, at about the time you mentioned, but there were other men there at the same time. Surely one of them would be the one you’re looking for.”

“Why were you there?” she snapped.

“To meet someone who needed help.”

“Who?” Branham jumped back in. “Who was it you we
re
there to meet?”

“I’m afraid I just can’t say.”

“Why not?” Branham asked. “Don’t you see the position it puts you in?
You were at the bar when the victim was murdered, you were seen by an eyewitness walking to the back of the building
,
where she was killed, and you can’t give us a reasonable explanation
for
your actions. Wh
at
do
you expect us to think
?
It makes you the
most likely person we know of at this point to have killed her
.
You had means and opportunity, and you seem to be hiding a motive that we’ll
find
out about soon enough
.
”

Brother Charles folded his hands on the table in front of him and stared at them.

“
If you tell us who you went there to see,
” Branham pressed,
“
they can corroborate your story and clear you. We might be able to keep the specifics confidential. Who was it?”

Brother Charles shook his head.
“We help a lot of people at our clinic. Often they ask that we keep their identities confidential, for various reasons.
Sometimes,” he looked up at Branham
before
turn
ing
to Karen, “they’re embarrassed about going to a free clinic instead of being able to afford
Medicare
. Sometimes, rarely, they have their own
Medicare
but need to consult someone in greater privacy. Off the grid, so to speak.” He turned back to Branham. “We respect and guarantee those requests for confidentiality.”

“Are you telling me you went to see someone in Harmony Saturday night who’s been getting treatment here at your clinic?”

Brother Charles nodded.

“They were at Gerry’s?”

“I was supposed to meet them there, but when I got there I couldn’t find them, so I left.”

“And you won’t tell me the identity of this person to help corroborate your story?”

Brother Charles shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Branham looked at Karen. She hiked an
eyebrow. It was obvious enough to her. Branham nodded.

“Brother Charles,” he said, getting up, “I’m going to have to ask you to come with me back to Harmony for further questioning.”

Brother Charles stood up. “Am I under arrest?”

Karen also got to her feet and moved around the table into a position on the
man’s left
. She knew Branham had a choice and th
at he would take the high road
, but she was going to be ready in case the situation fell apart and she needed to move quickly
.

Branham
came
around the table.
“
Will you come voluntarily?”

“Yes, of course, although I probably can’t tell you any more than I already have. Am I a suspect, then?”

“
We’ll call you a person of interest at the moment, s
ince you’ve agreed to come in voluntarily
.
That way
there’s no need to arrest
you
right now and handcuff you and all of that. But I’ll tell you up front, if you don’t come up with better answers when Chief Askew talks to you
,
you
’
ll be
placed under
arrest and charged.”

“May I just have a few minutes to arrange things here before we go?”

“
Ye
s,
of course.
Let’s go.”

They followed Brother Charles out of the meeting room. He took them down the hall to the desk of a
gray
-haired woman in a blue dress.

“This is Mrs. Chandler, our volunteer administrator
,” Brother Charles said
.
He
forced a
smile
at the woman
. “Can you see if Brother David is free?”

“Of course.” She picked up the phone
and punched a button
.

“I’ll just make arrangements for Brother David to take over my duties for the next little while,” Brother Charles
explained
to Branham, “just in case. We’re in the middle of a budget review and there are a few deadlines
coming up
that have to be met.”

“Budget review?” Karen asked, skeptically.

Brother Charles nodded. “
Of course
. As
a
bbot I’m responsible for a
n annual
budget of over
twelve
million dollars.”

“
Twelve
million!”

“Surprised?
Most of it is dedicated to the clinic and the farm operation.
The profits we realize from the farm are channeled into our charitable works. We’re a benevolent order.”

“After expenses, no doubt.”

“That’s correct, but not in a negative sense as you imply. We don’t live the high life here. We don’t take expensive vacations to St.
 
Lucia or wine and dine every night. We live simple lives, we pay our bills, and
everything else goes to our charitable works. When I say we’re a benevolent order, I’m not saying we’re a bunch of nice guys, I mean it literally. The
primary
purpose of this order
, apart from our own spiritual studies and writings,
is to create a vehicle
for
charitable works
to benefit
the people of this
county who desperately need it
. It’s the reason we’re here.”

Karen was about to reply when a short, stocky blond man
in another
white cassock joined them.

“This is Brother David Wilbur,” Brother Charles said. “David, this is Deputy Chief Branham from Harmony and Detective Karen Stainer.
They need me to go to Harmony with them. It’s about the murder of Marcie Askew.”

Karen saw something pass between the two monks, a subtle shift in expression, perhaps, nothing she could put her finger on, but something that made the tiny hairs stand up on the back of her neck.
Whatever it was that Brother Charles was not telling them, this Brother David character also knew
about it
.

“The revised estimates for the clinic expansion need to be signed off by five o’clock,” Brother Charles said. “Please act as
a
bbot until further notice. Tomorrow morning, if necessary, chair the committee meeting and get the next steps in the review process approved.”