Murder Is Elementary (14 page)

Chapter 47

Jody was anxious to get in touch with Theresa. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong. Jody called Becky hoping maybe she’d seen Theresa.

“Why on earth isn’t she answering her phone? It keeps going to voicemail. She’s answered before even when she was out on a date. I’m really worried,” said Jody.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Becky. “Maybe she and David are spending the night at a hotel somewhere and don’t want to be disturbed.”

“She was going to break up with him. She was convinced that she didn’t want to continue seeing him. She should have been home by now.” Jody had visions of Theresa lying unconscious. Maybe David lost his temper and struck her with something.

“If you’re really worried maybe you should call the police,” suggested Becky.

“I think I should. I think actually I’ll call Susan Wiles. I have her number. Her daughter is a police detective,” said Jody. “I think things will move faster if I call her. The police will say I have no proof that anything is wrong.”

“Okay, let me know as soon as you find out something,” said Becky.

“I will.” Jody hung up the phone and immediately went to her contacts list and called Susan.

“Susan, this is Jody Decker. I’m worried about Theresa. She’s out with David tonight. She was going to break up with him and she’s not answering her phone. She should have been home already. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Well,” said Susan, “I normally would tell you not to worry––that they probably decided not to break up and were out having a good time, but I made a connection earlier today. The secretary, Sandra, said David’s nickname was
Macho Man
and that he’d been involved with Vicky. Also, Sandra said that David had argued violently with Vicky on occasion. There’s one more thing. There was a threatening text left on Vicky’s cell phone before she died. It came from
Macho Man.
I think that man is dangerous. I’ll call Lynette right away. Let’s meet at my house. I’ll text you the address.” Susan hung up and entered Lynette’s number. Lynette picked up on the second ring.

“Hi, Mom, what’s up?” said Lynette.

“Jody Decker just called. She’s worried about her friend Theresa who’s out on a date with a possible psychopath,” said Susan.

“Calm down, I’m sure she’s fine. How long has she been missing?

“A couple of hours,” answered Susan.

“We don’t consider someone missing until it’s been at least 24 hours. She’s a grown up. I’m sure you’re over reacting.”

Susan thought Lynette sounded like she’d been dozing on the sofa and she knew how her daughter felt about being woken up from naps.

”I’m sure everything is fine. If she doesn’t show up for work tomorrow we will get right on it.”

Chapter 48

“Where are we?” demanded Theresa. David had dragged her out of the car and was pushing her toward a small wooden cabin. Once David turned off the car it was pitch black. No moon, no stars, no streetlights. Theresa had an odd thought that this was how it probably looked at the bottom of the ocean. She nearly tripped several times on the way to the door. The wooden door creaked. David pulled a chain in the middle of the ceiling and a single light bulb illuminated the musty room. Thick nails were haphazardly nailed into one wall of the cabin. Theresa’s eyes scanned the wall––a rake, a saw, a shovel, thick rope. A fishing pole and a tackle box lay in the middle of the floor. A shot gun was propped against the opposite wall. Theresa noticed a refrigerator––one of those old fashioned ones where the entire door opened with a single metal handle. There was also a double burner on top of a folding table. David pulled a metal folding chair out from the table.

“Sit down. Now,” demanded David. He went over to the wall and grabbed the shot gun. Theresa’s hands were shaking and sweat dampened her armpits in spite of the cold. She didn’t know how she was going to get out of this.

“David, I’m sorry; I was so wrong. I actually love you a lot. We have so much I common––we want the same things in life. You’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. Please forgive me. Take me back. Let’s go back home and start our lives together. Together forever.” Now Theresa’s legs were shaking too.

“Well, my darling, that sounds beautiful. You and me forever…” His voice became sing-songy. He kissed her on the forehead. “WHAT KIND OF A FOOL DO YOU THINK I AM,” he screamed in her ear. “You’ve been watching too many Lifetime movies. It’s over.” David cocked the handle on the shotgun and aimed it at Theresa’s forehead.

Chapter 49

Lynette, Susan, and Jody were racing toward the cabin. Jody had managed to convince Lynette that David was unstable and Theresa was not safe.

“Maybe we should see if they went back to one of their places,” said Susan.

Lynette drove by both Theresa’s apartment and David’s house. Both residences were dark. “No one is home. They must still be out together.” She called the station and had one of her colleagues run David’s credit card records. She also had them run his name through the police database.

 
“Looks like they were at Benihanas around eight pm. Maybe they decided to have a romantic evening. Let’s drive around the area.” They checked a few neighboring hotels but no one had seen them. When they got back into the car, Lynette’s phone rang.

“Okay,” said Lynette. “Thanks, Ted. That’s very helpful.” Lynette ended the call and turned to Susan.

“That was one of the officers who were researching David. David’s family owns a hunting cabin in the Catskills,” said Lynette. “Instinct tells me they’re headed there.”

“Well, let’s get moving,” said Susan.

“I’ll get going,” said Lynette. “You stay put.”

 
“You know that convincing me and Jody to stay home is fruitless and time is of the essence. I know you are going to say this is against your better judgment but save your breath and let’s go.”

Lynette finally agreed to let them tag along. It was beginning to snow and the windshield wipers struggled to keep up with the flakes.

“Mom, take my phone and read me the directions.” Lynette exited the Thruway and followed the serpentine mountain road. When she tried to go faster, she skid and nearly hit a tree. Luckily, she was able to get the SUV back on the road.

Susan thought
snow
tires? I guess if you weren’t in what amounted to a police chase they may have helped. It was dark and snowing harder now.

“Mom, what do the directions say next?” asked Lynette.

 
It was so dark now that Susan could hardly read them. “Go right and follow the road. The cabin should be about half a mile on the right.” They drove for a few more minutes. Susan spotted it first.

“There it is, Lynette.”

Lynette parked the car. Susan had heard her call for backup but right now it was just the three of them.

“Stay in the car. I mean it. I really mean it,” demanded Lynette.

Susan and Jody crouched down in their seats and waited for the police to arrive. Susan opened the car window so that she could hear, and stuck her gloved hand out to brush off the layer of snow so that she could see. She watched as Lynette took her gun from its holster, crept up the path, and gingerly opened the door. Susan heard her yell “Drop it.”

Chapter 50

Antonio awoke to the aroma of bacon and blueberry muffins. He took a shower and chose a striped blue dress shirt and a skinny navy tie. On the way downstairs, he popped into Tony’s room.

“Wake up, sleepy head. Get up and ready for school.” Antonio gently shook Tony.

Antonio went into the kitchen and saw Hayley at the stove cooking bacon. He didn’t know why he’d been such a cheating jerk. She looked beautiful, even with no makeup and wearing a terry bathrobe. He thought about the first time he met her. He saw her across the courtyard at the student union building. She was eating lunch on the steps of the pit while studying her notes. Her long daffodil-colored hair attracted him first. It hung over her shoulders as she bent forward to eat. He made his way over to her and said something lame like “Aren’t you in my poli-sci class?” Her jade-colored eyes had twinkled when she looked up at him and the rest was, as they say, history.

“Have some bacon while it’s hot,” said Hayley. Antonio was surprised that Hayley was encouraging him to eat bacon. Maybe she was trying to kill him.

“Thanks.” He took a plateful and scooped up some scrambled eggs.

“Do you have a busy day today?” asked Hayley. “Can you drop off Tony and come back home? I need to talk to you.”

Antonio grabbed his phone and checked his calendar. “No, nothing scheduled for this morning. I’m sure I can get away for an hour or two.” Tony hopped down the steps and into the kitchen.

“Have some eggs and a muffin, Tony. Daddy is going to drop you off today but he’ll be at school when it’s time to take you home,” said Hayley.

Tony finished his breakfast and brushed his teeth.

“Here’s your lunch box. Zip up your jacket.” Hayley kissed him goodbye. Then she turned to Antonio. “I’ll see you in a little while.” She kissed him on the cheek. Antonio couldn’t remember the last time she did that. He was getting a little nervous.

Chapter 51

After getting Mike off to work, Susan decided to ride down to the station and see what was going on with David’s arrest. Theresa had seen an Epi-pen in the glove compartment of David’s car and he was obviously a psycho. It was only a matter of time until they could charge him with Vicky’s murder. Susan was glad that Carolina and Javier would be able to rest knowing Vicky’s murderer had finally been caught. She saw Lynette as soon as she entered the station. Lynette’s eyes were underlined with dark circles.

“Hi, sweetheart, did you get any sleep last night?” asked Susan.

“Not a whole lot. Come on in,” said Lynette.

Jackson was sitting at a desk. Good thing Susan had eaten breakfast. It would have been hard to handle him on an empty stomach.

“Well, good work Nancy Drew. I heard you helped catch a bad guy last night,” said Jackson.

“And I never even went to the police academy,” replied Susan. “Where were you last night Jackson? Playing Guitar Hero or searching Craig’s List for a girlfriend?”

“All Lynette had to do was call me, but I guess she had it covered,” replied Jackson.

Susan followed Lynette into her office. “So we got him right? He’s the one who murdered Vicky,” said Susan.

“Not exactly,” replied Lynette. We charged him with kidnapping and he will definitely see some jail time but he didn’t kill Vicky.”

“But he was
Macho Man
. He threatened Vicky, and you found the Epi-pen in his car,” said Susan.

“We found
an
Epi-pen
,
not
the
Epi-pen
.
He was telling the truth about being allergic to bee stings. That was his, not Vicky’s. We still haven’t found the one from Vicky’s desk,” said Lynette.

“He still could have killed Vicky,” said Susan. She crossed her arms across her chest.

“No, he had an alibi which checked out,” replied Lynette. “It wasn’t him. Besides, can you picture him baking a peanut infused funfetti cupcake?”

“I guess not. I’m disappointed though. I was hoping we’d have closure for Carolina and Javier.”

“We will. We just don’t have it yet. We will get the real killer.”

“You still need to look into
boy toy
, and I’m suspicious of Blaze Conrad’s girlfriend. If she was being abused by Blaze, maybe this was her version of revenge.”

“We’ve got it covered, Mom. Go home and relax,” said Lynette.

Susan hugged Lynette goodbye and went back home. Maybe she’d try a little more scrap booking.

Chapter 52

Hayley heard Antonio pull into the driveway. Her heart was racing. This was going to be over––today. She had pulled on some yoga pants and a long sleeved tee. The baby had cooperated and was napping in his crib.

“Hayley, I’m here.” Hayley heard the door close. Antonio took off his coat and shoes.

“Let’s sit down.” Antonio followed her into the living room.

Hayley noticed that little twitch above his left eye. Ever since she’d known him, she noticed that he twitched whenever he was nervous about something.

“We need to talk about some things––get everything out in the open. You know I’ve known for a while that you cheated on me with Vicky. I understand that you may have been trying to ‘sleep your way to the top’ and in a strange way I understand that. I put a lot of pressure on you to become a principal and build our dream house.”

“I wanted it too,” said Antonio. “I love our home and I needed a little push.”

“Well, you’re going to pay for your sins. This is going to cost you,” said Hayley. She reached behind her back, slowly.

Antonio looked extremely uncomfortable. Hayley was enjoying watching him squirm.
           

“Here you go. This is how you are going to make this up to me,” said Hayley.

Antonio took the folder. He was expecting the worst.

“Hayley, what is this? Divorce papers?”

“Look inside,” said Hayley.

Antonio looked. “Wow, this sure isn’t what I was expecting,” said Antonio.

Inside the folder were two tickets.

“These are tickets for a European cruise,” said Hayley. “A three week cruise. Yes, you are taking me on the vacation of my life aboard the Queen Mary. It’s the largest and most luxurious ship on the sea. We will go this summer. My parents have already agreed to watch the boys. Are you surprised?”

“Surprised is an understatement,” said Antonio. “This is wonderful. I never would have expected this.” Antonio hugged Hayley.

“This is going to be a new start for us, but it will be an expensive new start. I really am sorry I put so much pressure on you. Not that I’m not angry about what you did. I’ve been seething over that for a long time now and I need to let it go. I want our boys to grow up in a loving two-parent household. I’m even going to try to do some freelance work from home to help out with the finances.”

Antonio began to sob. Hayley had never seen him cry before.

“I love you, Hayley, and I’m so sorry. I’ll never do anything like that again,” said Antonio. This was not the actor speaking. Hayley knew that these words were coming from his heart.

“I’m not even mad about the purse anymore,” said Antonio. “I know you planted it so the police would think I killed Vicky.”

“What?” Hayley’s tone tuned sharp.” I never saw that purse until the police showed it to us. I thought you’d put it there. I couldn’t believe you had really killed Vicky but I figured maybe you saw the purse in her office and thought there might be something in there tying you to Vicky. I assumed you smuggled it out to the car during all the commotion.”

“No, I didn’t. I don’t remember seeing it in her office at all. If you didn’t do it and I didn’t do it, who snuck it into our closet? It had to have happened during the party or we would have seen it.”

“I straightened up the closet in preparation for the party and didn’t see it then. I figured you snuck it in from the car at some point after that.”
        

“No. Do you know what this means?” said Antonio. “The real killer had to have been here during the party.”