Murder at the Book Fair (24 page)

"Which more than likely means
that the two people who were most likely to dispose of a Thermos are the same
two people who seem least likely to have added poison to Portwood's
coffee."

"It's beginning to sound like
he was poisoned in one place while a co-conspirator got rid of the evidence
somewhere else."

"Or that the coffee had
nothing to do with his murder. Or there was no coffee."

I wanted to know if there was a
Thermos. I was hoping a call to Herb would tell me that the police had it, had
checked it out, and found no poison inside. But then that would mean that we
had another wasted clue.

I had to find out. I picked up the
phone and called Herb. It took me only a few seconds to learn that none of his
men removed anything from the van, other than what he sent to me.

"Herb, it still bothers me
that we haven't found the $50,000 a year Portwood was giving someone. Now,
someone tells me that Portwood had a Thermos full of coffee when he left
Frankfort
to go home. Would you be willing
to search a couple of homes to see if you can find a large sum of money and a
Thermos?"

"Cy, I don't think either of
his two neighbors killed him."

"Herb, don't be like your
coroner. If you want us to find his murderer, then we need to know everything
we can to see who is guilty and who isn't."

"I guess you're right, Cy.
I'll get a search warrant."

"Thanks, Herb, and I hope
you're right. And I don't think I have to tell you to call me as soon as you
complete your search."

"I'll get right on it. I'll
call you as soon as I know something."

I thanked him and hung up.

"Well, Lou, we might as well
be working here while Herb and his guys are working up on the river."

"We're working on the river
too, Cy."

"But it's a different
river."

"Let's check Google Maps to
see if it's possible that the Thermos floated down the river from
Frankfort
and ended up in the
Ohio River
near
Westport
."

The two of us laughed. It was
either that or go completely crazy. I was sure we were both well on our way.

+++

"Lou, let's drop by the
Portwood Estate, the one here in Frankfort, and see if we can find out if
either neighbor is home and will admit to hosting the brother and sister on
Saturday."

It took us only a few minutes to
pull up a house a couple of doors away from Portwood's brother and sister's
home. We got out of the van as quietly as possible, hoping not to arouse the
possible guilty party. I walked up to the house to the right and rang the
doorbell, which would be less likely to be heard by the Portwoods. A few
seconds later a woman came to the door. I introduced Lou and myself.

"Oh, you must be the ones
that bothered the Portwoods the other day."

At that point I realized that if
the Portwoods needed an alibi for any day during the last year the neighbor was
willing to provide one. Still, I asked my questions, and the neighbor agreed
with everything Archie Portwood had said. I had no way of proving that the
story was a lie. If  Portwood's murderers lived in the house next door, I would
have to catch them some other way.

I figured Sam had had enough time
to find out the entire life history of all the people involved in the case, so
I gave him a call.

"Sam, do you have information
on those people I called you about?"

"Cy, is that you? That was
days ago. Usually you call me back within minutes, so I thought you weren't
interested anymore. I got the information, but I forgot all of it."

"Out with it, Sam."

"Well, I didn't get much.
Where do you want me to start?"

"How about with the brother
and sister?"

"Well, it's obvious they
hated him, and both of them were struggling to get by, but I don't know any
more than that. I didn't find out anything on anyone that might be a motive,
except that the rumor I heard is that Bob Barney is secretly in love with
Millie Longacre."

"Does she know it?"

"I'm not sure. I know she
planned to marry Cyril Portwood, but I'm not sure if that was because she loved
him or his money. If anyone is telling you they didn't know he was loaded, my
guess is they are lying."

"What about the will? Any
idea who knew they were in it?"

"I think Portwood's brother
and sister suspected that they might get something, but not the bulk of his
estate. I think Millie Longacre has a pretty good idea how much he had, and
that she will be getting some of it. I think Barney suspects that, too. I tried
to find some dirt on the lawyer and that book promoter, but I can't find anywhere
that the lawyer has been shady, or that the book promoter knew Portwood any
better than he said he did. And I think you can dismiss those two women authors
as suspects, if you ever considered them. I can find nothing that says they
knew Portwood before the book fair."

"What about Jake
Cartwright?"

"I never could find anything
that told me whether he and Portwood were good friends or merely competitors. I
didn't find anything that showed he has more money than he should, but then
I've checked all the banks anywhere near where each person lives and I haven't
found anyone with an unexplained lump sum."

"So, really all that you've
been able to come up with is I can eliminate those two women authors, and Bob
Barney has a thing for Millie Longacre."

"Sorry, that's the best I can
do without giving each of them a lie detector test, and as you know, those
things aren't admissible in court."

"Well, thanks, Sam. I'll call
you the next time I don't need anything."

"I thought you are supposed
to be retired."

"I am, but can I help it if
people recognize my talent?"

"I'll let you go, Cy, before
you break your arm patting yourself on the back."

We both laughed at his comment,
and I said goodbye and we ended the call.

"So, Lou, where does this
leave us?"

"In
Frankfort
."

"That's about it, too. I'm
trying to decide if we have a reason to stay here any longer. I'm in a quandary
as to what to do. Can you think of anything we might be working on while we
wait on Herb to call us with the results of those home searches?"

"It depends upon whether or
not you brought any of your mysteries with you."

+++

We went back to the hotel to rest
and wait on Herb to call us with the results of the home searches. I was about
to call Lou to ask him if he was ready to go eat supper when Herb called.

"Well, Cy, I've got a little
bit, but I don't know if it amounts to anything."

"Tell me about it and I'll
see what I think."

"Well, we found something at
both places which could mean something. At Millie Longacre's house we found
$13,000 in small bills hidden underneath her silverware tray in a kitchen
drawer. She says that it's money that she has been saving for many years. It
was all in smaller bills. I called the bank to see how Cyril withdrew the
$50,000 each year, and it too was in small bills, but they didn't write down
the serial numbers, so I have no way of knowing whether this was his money or
Millie is telling the truth, which she might be. Thirteen thousand dollars is a
lot less than several years of $50,000 per year."

"Yeah, it doesn't sound like
you have enough to prove anything. I don't assume you found any more money
anywhere else."

"No. That was it."

"What did you find at
Barney's house?"

"A Thermos. Barney says it's
his, which it could be. While we didn't take Millie's money, we did take the
Thermos to analyze it. They're about to get to it now, so I should have
something for you later. If we don't find anything I'll probably give it back
to Bob Barney. Maybe it's his Thermos and he uses it when he goes
somewhere."

"But where does he ever go?"

"Well, sometimes he goes
fishing if the weather isn't too bad, but other than that Bob is pretty much a
stay at home person."

"How well do you know
him?"

"Not too well. Why?"

"Do you have any idea if he
has a thing for Millie Longacre?"

"Well, it wouldn't surprise
me. But I don't have any information that says that's so. I just know that
they're about the same age, and they're neighbors who have known each other for
a while. Of course, if he is smitten with her, I'm sure he would probably keep
it hush hush because she was expecting to marry Cyril."

"Do you know if she loved
Portwood, or was she in love with his money?"

"That I can't tell you. This
has been my first experience with those people out in that part of the county.
Nothing bad has happened there before, so the only time I've seen any of them
is when they've come to LaGrange. I don't know them like I do the people
here."

"Well, thanks. And call me as
soon as you get the toxicology tests on that Thermos."

"Will do. You figure that if
it tests clean that there's another Thermos out there somewhere."

"Either that or the guy who
told me the Thermos story is lying. How often do those people out there have
garbage pickup?"

"They don't. Most people who
live in places like that burn their trash and take their garbage to the dump
once  every week or two."

"Since you can't burn a
Thermos, I might send you to the dump to check out everyone's garbage."

"And I might retire about the
time you make that suggestion."

We both laughed and I told him
goodbye and ended the call.

As soon as I hung up from talking
to Herb I called Lou to summon him to my room for a powwow. I filled him in on
what I had learned from Herb.

"Lou, I have a feeling that
the Thermos won't turn up anything. And you know where that leaves us. Either
Jake Cartwright is lying, or someone has done something with that
Thermos."

"And the only two people I
can see having that opportunity are Millie Longacre or Bob Barney."

"We were in the house. Do you
remember seeing a Thermos anywhere?"

"Nope."

"I can understand why we
didn't see one in the dark, but we were there when the lights were working, and
I think we would have noticed a Thermos."

"I'm not sure about you, Cy,
but I would have."

"I'll act like I didn't hear
that. Where would a Thermos have been? Well, if no one but Portwood touched it,
it would have been in the van. There wasn't any Thermos in that van. And I
don't think there was one on the kitchen counter or the table, which is where I
think an innocent person might have put one."

"Where would a guilty person
have put one, Cy?"

"Well, if it was me I would
have taken a hike out to the river and tossed it in."

"Does that mean it's time to
drag the river?"

"No, because I wasn't the one
who hid it."

"Maybe we should call both of
his neighbors and ask them where they would have hidden it."

"I just know that if I find
out that there wasn't a Thermos, I'm going to shoot Jake Cartwright
myself."

"Maybe you should poison his
food instead."

"No, I've had poison up to
here."

"Well, then, Cy, you need to
thank God for keeping you alive with that much poison in your body."

"Lou, do you happen to have
Heather's number on you?"

"I do, but she asked me never
to give it to you."

+++

Lou and I went to get something to
eat and on the way back we got our anticipated call from Herb. Bob Barney's
Thermos was clean. There was no trace of poison. I thought of asking him if I
could have it long enough to show it to Jake Cartwright, but if there was no
Thermos Cartwright might tell me that the one I showed him was the one Portwood
was drinking from.

+++

I wanted to be retired again
before I had to move to the nursing home, so I told Lou that we would go to my
room and discuss the case.

"Any ideas, Lou?"

"Going home sounds good to
me."

"Sounds good to me, too, but
we can't do that yet, unless you think the murderer is in Hilldale."

"Well, George did look like
he had something to hide when we saw him the day he saw your new van for the
first time."