Murder for Choir (19 page)

“Yeah. That’s when things got out of hand. Larry called Greg a thief. Greg told Larry he was too stupid to cash in on a good thing. I stopped Larry from jumping Greg and suggested they split the money. Larry looked like he’d be willing to take half and keep the friendship, but Greg
refused. He said Larry couldn’t prove that he’d written the arrangements. That Larry had put Greg’s name on all of them. Greg then dared Larry to sue him. Greg walked out of the room, and he and Larry never talked again. At least, not during college. Hell, they even stopped talking to me.”

I felt sorry for the big lug. Clearly, losing his friends and his a cappella group had ruined Jim’s senior year. Considering the Pete’s Pizza career path and his Whac-A-Mole rescuing prowess, I would guess it had even ruined his life.

Devlyn clapped the guy on the shoulder, and Jim winced. Sunburn must be lurking under the green shirt, too.

“Hey,” Jim’s face brightened. “Do you think you could tell the guys that you talked to me and pass along my number? It would be nice to get together with them and relive the glory days.”

“I’ll tell Larry when I see him, but Greg…” Jim’s eyes were filled with hope. I felt like I was telling a five-year-old that there was no Easter Bunny when I said, “Greg died a few days ago. He was murdered.”

“Well, that was interesting.” Devlyn glanced at me as he steered his car into traffic. “I’d say money and revenge are really good motives to commit murder.”

“Maybe.” Funny, but now that I’d heard Jim’s story, I actually thought Larry was a less likely murder suspect. If a guy didn’t bean his backstabbing friend all those years ago, why would he suddenly change his mind now? I wasn’t buying the character shift. Then again, maybe Dana pushed Larry into killing her ex. Anything was possible.

Devlyn raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think Larry did it?”

“I think he’s a
great suspect, but as my aunt says: I’m keeping my options open.”

“What other options are we pursuing?”

I blinked. “We?”

Devlyn laughed. “Well, there are two of us in this car, and I did a pretty good job as wingman back there.”

“I was impressed. The niece detail was a nice touch.”

“Actually, that was the truth. I have a niece who would love to have a party there in December. Once I convince my sister, I’ll give Jim a call and book it. I’ll probably catch hell from my nephews, but I can take it.”

“How many kids does your sister have?”

“Two, but my brother has four more. All boys. How about you? Any siblings?”

“One younger brother. Neither one of us are married, which is driving my mother nuts. Grandchildren are high on her priority list.”

“You don’t want kids?”

“I want a performance career, which means I meet guys who are either taken or gay.”

He laughed. “Sounds about right. Enough about our families. Who’s the next suspect on the list?”

“According to Felicia, you are,” I said half teasing, half waiting to see what his reaction would be. “She said you were in love with Greg Lucas.”

Devlyn’s head swiveled. “She said what?” It was a good thing we were stopped at a light or Devlyn might have plowed into the car in front of us.

“Felicia said you had a thing for Greg and you were upset that those feelings weren’t reciprocated.”

“Was Felicia on heavy medication when she said this?”

“She had had a couple glasses of wine, but she still
seemed coherent. She was very certain that you were a victim of unrequited love and that it might have pushed you over the edge.”

“I’ve felt a lot of different emotions about Greg over the years that could have led to murder, but love wasn’t one of them.” The look on Devlyn’s face made me believe him.

“So, why would Felicia think you loved Greg?”

“Got me.” The light turned green, and Devlyn hit the gas. “She and I talked about Greg once in a while, mostly after she got back from show choir tournaments. She was always the one who brought him up. If anyone had a thing for Greg, it was Felicia.”

“Felicia was in love with Greg?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it love. Felicia gravitates toward unhealthy relationships. A relationship with Greg is as unhealthy as it comes.”

Dana Lucas was proof of that.

“Do you think they had an affair?” Maybe Felicia was the mystery woman who broke up Greg and Dana’s marriage.

“Doubt it. Felicia would have mentioned it. Besides, Greg liked women who are too young to vote or who could do something for his choir or his career. She wouldn’t have qualified.”

If Felicia had feelings for Greg, watching him romance other women would have hurt. Poor thing. “What’s Felicia’s story? All I know about her is she teaches home economics and loves high heels.”

“Felicia is a lot like you. She took the teaching job in order to pay the bills. Designing her own line of clothes is what she’s really shooting for. She’s been working at getting funding to put on her own show. Don’t know if it will happen, but I’d like to see her succeed.”

“If the show ever happens, my aunt can provide the makeup design and a large number of country club women ready to fork over their credit cards.”

Devlyn concentrated on driving while I stared out the window, trying to decide what to do next. As a performer, I was used to someone else providing the stage directions. This was the first time I’d ever had to improvise. I was finding it harder than expected.

The car in front of us raced into the intersection as the light turned red, almost taking out a bicyclist in the process. The near accident made me think about Greg’s near-death experience with an automobile earlier in the year. It stood to reason that, having failed to kill Greg the first time, the person behind the wheel would take another whack at him. Maybe someone caught the make and model of the hit-and-run vehicle. If so, I could compare it to my suspects’ cars and hopefully find a match. To do that, I needed to see the incident report. I wasn’t sure whether Detective Kaiser would be in a sharing mood, but I was about to find out.

Detective Mike wasn’t at the station. Not surprising since it was a Saturday. The freckle-faced cop manning the front desk looked like he still had to ask permission to borrow the family car. The nice part about his youth was he was eager to please. I told him I was looking for an accident report. The kid gave me good news. I could absolutely buy a copy of the accident report online. The bad news was I needed to know the date of the accident.

Damn. I asked if he could look up the accident for me since I knew the name of the party involved. More bad news. He’d have to call his superiors and ask. Fairly certain news of the request would eventually reach Detective Kaiser, I said thanks but no thanks and walked back to Devlyn’s car.

“Now what?” Devlyn asked as he slid into the driver’s seat and cranked the air.

“Now we let our fingers do the walking. Let’s go back to Aunt Millie’s place. I need to use my laptop.”

Aunt Millie’s car wasn’t in the driveway when we pulled
up. Killer must be on his way home. Devlyn followed me upstairs to my room. Normally, inviting a sexy man into my boudoir made me break out into a nervous sweat. On several occasions I’d managed to knock over lamps, trip on dust bunnies, and walk into closets because I forgot where the door was located. Was I a smooth operator or what?

Thank goodness Devlyn’s sexual preferences kept my nerves at bay, and my fingers were able to fly over the keyboard without tipping over the computer. After three different searches I hit pay dirt. The
Daily Herald
did a short story on a May twenty-fifth accident and named Greg Lucas as the victim. An unnamed witness was quoted. He said Greg had started to cross the street at the intersection when a black Toyota pulled out of a parallel-parking spot and accelerated quickly. The car didn’t slow as it approached the red light and hit Greg as he tried to jump out of the way. The car sped around a corner and disappeared. The article asked anyone with information about the hit-and-run to call the police.

“Who do we know who owns a black Toyota?”

Devlyn peered over my shoulder. “Larry used to own a black car. He traded it in just before school let out in June.”

Huh. Guess my instincts about Larry changing his behavior might be totally off. If nothing else, this was worth looking into. I shut down the computer, gave my chair a shove, and stood up. At least, I tried to. The chair’s front legs tilted backward. The back ones buried into the carpet, and my upward momentum had me falling backward with the chair.

The chair hit the floor with a thud. I braced for impact, but Devlyn wrapped his arms around me before I hit. He pulled me close and smiled. “We should probably stop meeting like this.”

I tried to smile back, but the heat of his body, the look
in his eyes, and the proximity of the bed made my blood start to race. I licked my lips instead. Gay. He’s gay. Sweat broke out under my armpits, and my heart thudded hard. My body wasn’t listening.

Trying not to make a fool out of myself, I pulled away from his arms, stumbled slightly, and finally managed to stand upright. Devlyn’s lips twitched as he asked, “Are you okay?”

So much for not making myself look like a fool.

“Yeah. I guess I was in a hurry to get going.” I started down the hallway so I didn’t have to see if Devlyn bought the excuse.

“Where to?” he asked.

“Larry has a lot of secrets. Maybe it’s time to talk to him about a few of them.”

Devlyn stopped halfway down the stairs and frowned.

“You don’t think talking to Larry is a good idea?”

“I think someone talking to Larry is a great idea.” Devlyn slowly walked down the rest of the steps.

“But not me.” I couldn’t help feeling put out. Thus far, I’d ferreted out secrets and gotten the killer concerned about my nosy nature. If anyone should talk to Larry, it was me.

“Sorry, champ.” Devlyn put an arm around my shoulders and ruffled my hair. “Larry hasn’t known you long enough to trust you. He isn’t going to spill his guts to someone he’s only known for a few days.”

Damn. “You have a point. He won’t talk to me, but he will talk to you. Right?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Devlyn whipped out his cell phone and dialed. Larry picked up right away. I could only hear one side of the conversation, but it was obvious Larry was depressed. Devlyn volunteered to take him out for a drink to cheer him up and gave me a thumbs-up to let
me know Larry had agreed. Devlyn shoved the phone back in his pocket with a smile. “I’ll go pick up Larry and pump him for information. Once I’m done, we can catch dinner.”

“Dinner?”

He laughed and chucked me under the chin. “Yeah, dinner. I plan on telling Larry I have a date. You’re it.”

Huh. I wondered if I could use the same line on Aunt Millie so she’d stay out of my love life. Couldn’t hurt to try.

As if on cue, the front door opened and Killer slowly trotted in, followed by Millie. Killer was sporting a pink bandage around his head, making him look like a flamboyant pirate. Not to be outdone, Millie was decked out in a hot pink shirt, pink platform sandals, and a floppy pink hat.

Millie and Killer spotted Devlyn at the same time. They both bared their teeth. Millie in friendship. Killer in attack mode. Personally, I found it hard to take Killer’s threat seriously when he was dressed in pink.

My aunt looked at Devlyn and back at me. I took the hint. “Aunt Millie, this is my friend Devlyn. He’s the drama teacher at Prospect Glen.”

Devlyn walked over to Millie, took her outstretched hand, and kissed it. She giggled and blushed. I blinked. Three of the four individuals in the room were wearing pink. I felt like I’d missed a memo.

“I hate to leave, but I have a meeting in a few minutes.” Devlyn gave Millie’s hand another kiss and smiled at me. “I’ll be back later for our date.” And out the door he went.

Aunt Millie turned to me with a huge grin.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I warned. “Trust me. I’m not his type. Besides, I think he’s seeing someone.”

“Is he married?”

“No.”

“Engaged?”

“No.”

“Then he’s fair game.” Millie gave Killer a gentle pat on the head. “Your friend Felicia wouldn’t worry about whether he had a girlfriend. If she wanted him, she’d go after him.”