Murder at Breakfast (15 page)

I
wondered if a change of pace might help us solve the case. In the old days, I
wouldn’t have thought anything about what I wanted to do, but it was no longer
the old days. As we sat down in Lightning and buckled up, I turned to Lou and
asked, “Lou, would you be upset if we ate lunch at Hot Dog Haven today?”

I
could see the wheels turning as he calculated how much longer he would have to
Wii that night in order to break with tradition. Hot Dog Haven had nothing but
hot dogs, or at least nothing more than elongated sausages and wieners of some
sort. But he agreed and off Lightning shot.

I
ordered the Four By Four. It consisted of four hot dogs with four ingredients.
For my four I chose chili, cheese, mustard, and slaw, plus I made mine a combo
by ordering some chili cheese fries. Lou made his a combo, too. He got a bun
with his hot dog. He ordered
only one
hot dog. I wondered if that was
worse than being an only child. Watching Lou eat was an experience. It had been
quite a while since I had seen anyone other than a child eat only one hot dog.
True, Lou did doctor it up a little. He added mustard and ketchup, if you want
to call that doctoring. The poor guy needed a doctor. That much was obvious.

But
then the guy surprised me when we left. He said, “Cy, I know they don’t serve
dessert here, and I know how much you look forward to going to Every Loving
Spoonful each time we eat here, so go ahead. I think I’ll have one with you.”

I
was thankful that I wasn’t driving when he said that last part. I might have
wrecked. It’s not as if I think God doesn’t do miracles any more. I just wasn’t
expecting Him to do one at the ice cream parlor.

As
it turned out, when we got to Every Loving Spoonful, Lou refrained from saying,
“I’ll have what he’s having.”

I’d
chowed down quite well at Hot Dog Haven, so I wasn’t as hungry as unusual, so I
ordered only a three-scoop sundae with hot fudge, caramel, walnuts, whipped
cream, and a cherry. I know I should have had more, because I was giving up my
customary two slices of pie, but I refrained. I wanted to meet Lou halfway. As
it turned out, I met him a little more than halfway. His “one with me” was a
one-scoop dish, orange sherbet at that. Well, at least that was something. I
can still remember back to the time when I ate only one piece of pie at a meal.
I didn’t know any better in those days.

+++

I
took my time getting back to Parkway Arms. I wanted to make sure I had all my
burps out of the way before I tackled any more suspects. Besides that, hot
dogs, chili, and ice cream were not my normal luncheon fair, so none of them
were as familiar as an open-faced roast beef sandwich and mashed potatoes and a
couple of pieces of pecan pie as to where they should bed down when it was time
for me to get back to work.

I
was unsure which resident to tackle next, so I looked at my list to see the
order in which I had talked to them before. I got a pained look on my face when
I realized that Christine Hunt was next. Maybe I would send Lou in to talk to
her. I didn’t want that woman to start hitting on me again. I had had enough of
that to last me a few weeks.

+++

I
knocked on Christine Hunt’s door. A few seconds later, she answered.

“Oh,
if it isn’t that witty policeman who’s on YouTube and his nearly silent
partner. Come in one of you.”

“I’m
afraid it has to be both of us.”

“Oh,
this might turn out to be my lucky day. Or should I invite a friend?”

“Mrs.
Hunt, you’ll need to cooperate or I’ll have to cuff you and take you downtown.”

“Oh,
you naughty boy. Whatever you want to do, I’ll cooperate.”

“Good.
Let’s sit down so I can ask you some questions.”

“I’ve
got an idea my ideas are better than yours. Just in case this doesn’t work out
between us, could you possibly get me a key to Russell’s apartment?”

“Oh,
haven’t you heard? He’s started double-bolting his door.”

“Oh,
that’s okay. Give me a key to that dead woman’s apartment. I know where they
keep the ladder.”

“You
mean you don’t already have a key to her apartment?”

“No,
I’m only interested in men, and as luck would have it, we have only one man
here. Oh, well! At least he’s cute.”

“Mrs.
Hunt, let’s get serious here.”

“Now,
you’re talking!”

“Tell
me again about Friday morning’s breakfast. Where was everyone seated?”

“Well,
let see. I was at one end of the table. Joanne came in and sat across from me.
The dead woman was at the other end. She wasn’t dead at that time, of course.
That Winters woman sat across from her. The other two didn’t come down. Of
course, I can’t be sure if that’s where everyone sat. I didn’t know at the time
that we’d be tested on it. If so, I would’ve taken notes.”

I
realized that Christine Hunt was the second woman to say that to me.

“Who
was the closest to the buffet line, you or Mrs. Higgins?”

“It
was closer to her end of the table.”

“So,
anyone had to pass her place in order to get to the buffet?”

“So,
she was poisoned, and at breakfast. How come it took so long for us to be
notified?”

“I
don’t know. I guess the murderer might be a little shy about such things.
Besides, we’re not sure where she was murdered, but she was murdered. So, tell
me about breakfast. Did everyone eat about the same things?”

“I
couldn’t tell you, but it couldn’t have varied too much. There was only so much
food on the buffet. Still, there was plenty.”

“How
many of the people got up once they were seated?”

“I
don’t know. I guess all of us. I still look good for my age, so I’m not ashamed
to admit I went back for more.”

“Do
you have any idea if Mrs. Higgins ate anything that no one else ate?”

“Can’t
help you there.”

“Who
left the table first?”

“I
think she did, but I can’t be sure of it. I think the Winters woman left about
the same time she did, but all of us left at roughly the same time. ”

“Don’t
you like Miss Winters?”

“Oh,
she’s all right, I guess. It’s just that she always hung out with that woman.”

“Let’s
move on. You said that most of you left about the same time. Who did you see
after you left the table, but before you drove out of the parking lot around 10:00 or so?”

“As
far as I can remember, no one, except for Joanna.”

“What
about Thursday night after dinner? Did you see anyone then?”

“No.
No wait a minute. Yes, I did, too. I saw that handsome Russell come out of his
place with a cheesecake. I could tell it was an expensive one. I tried to get
him to come over to my place and eat it. He would’ve had more fun at my place,
but no, he had to go down to her apartment.”

“Did
you hear him come back?”

“No,
I don’t eavesdrop on my neighbors.”

“So,
you don’t have any idea what time he came back, and if he had part of the
cheesecake with him?”

“So,
you mean he could have poisoned her with the cheesecake?”

“No,
I just wanted to know if you saw him come back. Mrs. Hunt, do you, or did you
at any time have a key to Mrs. Higgins’ apartment?”

“I
already told you I don’t have a key to her place. Never did.”

“Do
you know anyone who does?”

“I
assume that Russell does, and of course some of the people who work here, but I
don’t know of anyone else.”

Before
the conversation got back to Wiiing or a relationship between the two of us, I
ended it, ready to talk to someone else.

I
was anxious to talk to Elaine Jewell, Joanne Moberly, and Hilda Winters,
because each of them lived on the same floor as the victim. Both Russell
Cochran and Christine Hunt lived on the third floor and wouldn’t know about any
Friday morning visitors, unless one of them was the visitor.

I
opted for Joanne Moberly first, who supposedly ate breakfast across from
Christine Hunt. I knocked on her door. She opened it, frowned at first, but
quickly replaced her frown with a big smile.

“It’s
Lieutenant Dekker, isn’t it? What brings you to see me again? Something else on
your mind?”

“Well,
yes and no. It’s the same case, but a different set of questions.”

I
spent the next hour and a half or two hours questioning the three other women
who lived on the same floor as the deceased. While their answers didn’t
necessarily contradict each other, each one said something that no one else mentioned.
If true, any of these statements could turn the case around. Joanne Moberly
said she thought that someone walked by and leaned over to talk to the deceased
at the breakfast table, but she couldn’t remember for sure if that was Thursday
or Friday morning. She couldn’t remember who, but she thought it might have
been Hilda Winters. She said she thought she remembered someone getting Mrs.
Higgins another glass of orange juice. She wasn’t sure who it was, but she
thought it could have been the cook, Miss Carpenter.

We
left her apartment and called on Hilda Winters next. She opened the door,
smiled at the two of us, invited us in.

“Miss
Winters, what can you recall about breakfast on Friday morning?”

“Just
that there were only four of us. Other than that, nothing seemed any different
than any other day.”

“Who
left the table first?”

“Katherine
always leaves first after breakfast, but I left about the same time, called out
for her to wait on me.”

“And
did she?”

“No,
evidently she didn’t hear me. I had to wait on the elevator. As I unlocked the
door to my apartment I heard Katherine putting the chain latch on her door.”

“Was
that something she did all the time?”

“No,
sometimes she did, sometimes she didn’t. I don’t know if she had any special
reason for doing or not doing it.”

“But
you are sure she put in on Friday morning?”

“Absolutely,
I distinctly heard her slide it on her door.”

“And
did you hear her open her door to anyone that morning?”

“No,
but I wouldn’t have heard anything unless I was standing in the hall or close
to my door.”

I
thanked her for her time, moved diagonally across the hall to Elaine Jewell.
She didn’t seem quite as happy to see us, but reluctantly admitted us to her
apartment.

“Miss
Jewell, at the last minute Friday morning you decided to have your breakfast
sent up, rather than go down to breakfast. Why did you do that?”

“I
was tired. I knew I would be going out, so I decided to call down, have my
breakfast sent up, and take it easy until it was time to leave. I didn’t
necessarily want to go out, but neither did I want to be cooped up in my
apartment all day.”

“And
did you see Mrs. Higgins anytime Friday morning?”

“No.”

“Did
you hear her, or hear anyone out in the hall?”

“No.
Nothing.”

“What
about out on the roof? Would you have heard Russell Cochran if he had come down
the ladder?”

“I’m
not sure. Part of the time I was in the shower. I wouldn’t have heard anyone
then.”

“And
when you were in the shower did you have the latch on your door?”

“I
always put it on at night, never take it off until time to go down to breakfast
the next morning. Friday I never took it off until I left, somewhere around 10:00.”

+++

We
were moving along quite well. We had spent a part of five days on the case, had
talked to each of the suspects twice, and still were no closer to solving the
murder than we were when we arrived. Oh, we were closer. It just didn’t seem
like it. I wondered if we would learn anything if we went back to Mrs. Higgins’
apartment. It was only a few steps away, there were comfortable chairs inside,
plus some of my candy. When all the evidence is on the same side, it’s easy to
make a decision.

I
walked into the apartment, selected one candy piece of each color of paper, and
plopped down in a chair. Lou plopped down in another chair, and carefully
removed one M&M from his package. It was time to meditate, then share our
thoughts. A few minutes later, I interrupted the silence.

“Well,
Lou, enlighten me.”

“Well,
Cy, I can really tell a difference since I started mixing in some strength
exercises with the aerobics. I use yoga and balance for warm-up and cool-down,
and rotate aerobic and strength exercises each day.”

Lou
quit just as I reached for my gun.

“I
mean about the murder.”

“Well,
it seems like we now have more possibilities on how she died than we did. Was
it Professor Plum with the cheesecake, Mrs. White with the orange juice, or
Miss Peacock,  who  dropped  something  onto  her  plate?  Or  did  Mrs. Green
stop by for a visit and share an after dinner mint or two?”

“As
always Lou, you are enlightening. I just wish two people would confirm some
story.”

“Well,
they seem to be in agreement that four of the women were at breakfast, and both
the manager and the woman across the hall said she had the latch on her door.
Of course one said it was on after breakfast, and the other said it was on at
supper, but then a dead woman can’t do much with her door latch.”

“As
always, Lou, you’re most enlightening. It would be great if someone had found
Mrs. Higgins in time so that Frank could have narrowed down the time of death
even further. At least we know that she was poisoned before breakfast, at
breakfast, or after breakfast, so we can rule out anything having to do with
lunch.”

“Too
bad we couldn’t rule out breakfast and narrow it down to lunch. That way we
could eliminate some of our suspects. As it is, we can’t eliminate anyone.
Anyone could have done it before breakfast, any of the residents could’ve done
it at breakfast, and anyone could’ve done it afterward, considering she was
already dead before the shopping commenced.”

The
words “breakfast” and “lunch” triggered a thought. No, I didn’t plan to eat
both at once, but I thought of an idea that might help us solve the case. 

Lou,
I’ve got an idea.”

“You
know who did it?”

“No,
I know how we might find out.”

“You
plan to beat everyone until someone confesses?”

“No,
nothing like that. I plan to reenact the crime, so to speak.

“You
plan to murder someone and see who gets jealous?”

“Yeah,
I’m down to you and my next-door neighbor, but I don’t think anyone will be
jealous.”

“Don’t
forget the old lady in the house next to this place.”

“I’m
trying to forget her. Now, do you want to hear my idea?”

“Okay,
how do you plan to do it?”

“Well,
tomorrow we’ll come back over here, and reenact Mrs. Higgins’s last day.”

“You
mean we tell everyone they have to do just as they did on Friday?”

“I
doubt if one of them will cooperate. Instead, we’ll come over and eat breakfast
with the residents. I’ll have you play the part of Mrs. Higgins. After you eat,
you’ll go up and brush your teeth and stay in the apartment.”

“And
wait for the big bad wolf to knock on the door.”

“Well,
unless you keel over at the breakfast table.”

“I
have a better idea, Cy. Since you’re the one who eats the most now, and I might
miss whatever it is that the murderer laces with poison, why don’t you play the
part of the victim, and if I spot someone shaking some nasty-looking stuff into
your food, I’ll arrest him or her.”

“No,
Lou, you’re the one wasting away. There’s not as much of you to miss as there
is of me. I think you’ll make a better Mrs. Higgins.”

“Okay,
I’m game, as long as I don’t have to dress up in drag and use a falsetto
voice.”

Before
the conversation got any worse, I told Lou that I was on my way down to the
manager’s office to let her know our plans, and to make sure that there would
be plenty of food for a hungry lieutenant the next day. I told Lou that he
could either stay put or accompany me. His decision told me the lack of food
was affecting his brain. A couple of minutes and one elevator ride later, the
two of us arrived at the manager’s office, and the look on Mrs. Draper’s face
told me that somehow she had managed to forget that we were there.

“Come
in, Lieutenant, Sergeant. Is there something I can do for you?”

I
told her my plan and could quickly tell that she was sorry she asked her
question.

“And
you really think that this might help you end this mess a little sooner?”

With
more belief than I felt at that moment, I told her that I thought it could. We
thanked her, told her goodbye, and left while she went to tell the cook, “Guess
who’s coming to breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”    

On
the way out the door I wondered what I had gotten us into. I couldn’t see where
the murderer might try to reenact the crime. The best we could hope for was a
guilty look on someone’s face as he or she reflected upon the fatal moment in
our presence, or perhaps we could find a clue that we wouldn’t have known about
unless we became a part of the family, so to speak.

+++

I
looked at my watch before we pulled out of the Parkway Arms parking lot. We had
just enough time to drop by Hancock Cleaners and pick up our laundry and dry
cleaning before they closed. Neither of us likes to do his own laundry, so we
pay a little more for the privilege of letting someone else do it for us.
Besides, every little act of laziness on our parts allows someone else to make
a living.

+++

“Well,
what do you think, Lou?”

“I
think all my thinking about this case has been used up for today.”

“Not
about the case. Where do you think we should go for supper?”

I
noticed the look on my friend’s face and realized he had regressed so far that
he was more comfortable thinking about the murder than about where we would
eat. I wanted back my friend who slobbered every time I mentioned the word
“food.”

“You
decide, Cy. Wherever you want to go is fine.”

I
thought about blindfolding him and dropping him off at my next-door neighbor’s,
but I wanted to get my friend back, not lose him.

“Well,
Lou, I had such a good time at Burkman’s the other night, I’m ready to go back.

+++

I
don’t like silence unless I am thinking or reading, or in the presence of my
next-door neighbor, so, on the way to take Lou back to his place, I made
conversation.

“So,
Lou, what do you plan to do when you get home, read, or W…W…W…, that other
thing?” I couldn’t make myself say the “W” word.

“Read,
Cy. I did my workout this morning. I go about forty-minutes each morning. It’s
not a good idea to lose weight too fast, and I want to get in optimum shape.”

I
had always thought that optimum shape was the most favorable shape to be in. If
Lou wanted to do that, he needed to start eating again, and soon.

“Lou,
maybe if you ate a little more you could eat all the basic food groups like I
do, and Wii twice a day.”

“You
Wii twice a day, Cy? I didn’t know.”

I
gave Lou a look and he decided to change the subject.

“Say,
Cy, I assume you’re still reading that Carolyn Hart book we got the other day,
The
Christie Caper.
When do you expect to be finished?”

“I
am, Lou, and it’s another good one, but when I finish depends on this case. It
may be another couple of days.”

I
did plan to read when I got home, but first I would think about what we would
do the next day, and then, to get myself in the mood, I would Google Agatha
Christie. Maybe Carolyn Hart, too.

Before
I dropped Lou at his place, I reminded him that I would  be picking him up much
earlier than usual in order to get  to Parkway Arms at around 6:45. I hated to get up so much earlier than God intended, but those people eat early and
it would make no sense to get there after everyone returned to their apartments
or went about keeping the place in order. I wondered if it was too late to call
and see if they would be willing to move breakfast back to 9:00.