Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date (12 page)

I picked
up Lou around
8:30
. He sashayed out the front door,
and walked around and put his overnight bag in the back of the van. I heard the
thud as he shut the back, and he walked around and opened the passenger side
door. The first thing he asked was how my date was the night before. Luckily he
didn't ask about the night before that. Lou would have loved to have known about
Eve Sanchez and Sarah Jane Fulkerson.

"Well,
Lou this one looked like I might have been her first date. Ever. I can see her
striking out three times, unless she meets some guy just like she is. But
you'll be pleased to know that the woman you saw me with when everyone in
Hilldale followed me that night was there too, and she dropped by our table for
old time sake."

"So,
she had another date last night?"

"No.
She was just there. I don't know why."

"Sizing
you up for the kill, was she?"

"I
don't know about that, but she did threaten me."

"Oh?"

"Yes,
she has rescinded my invitation to come to her trailer and watch an Ed Wood movie
marathon."

"Oh,
I didn't realize that you had been invited. Holding out on me, are you, Cy?"

"Actually
she hadn't seen me to deliver the invitation. But that's okay. We'll get to see
her again. I want you to size her up and see if she could have been the one who
dumped you in her trunk and then left you in the house without an entrance or
exit."

"The
place had an entrance and exit. It was just well hidden, from both the inside
and the outside. The place should have a sign on the inside. 'In case of fire
get up a head of steam and make your own door or window.'"

"Lou,
you'd better watch where you go to sleep from now on. So, what about Bambi
Fontaine, trailer park maven?"

"If
I say 'keep her on the list,' does that mean I don't have to see her?"

"Lou,
as of now, think of yourself as my back-up. Keep me away from any needle,
syringe, or other apparatus that might end my time on Earth prematurely."

"Does
that include cheesecake?"

"No,
cheesecake isn't an apparatus."

"But
too much cheesecake can end your time on Earth prematurely."

"Oh,
didn't I tell you. I'm out of the dating game. From now on I'm merely
encountering suspects and sizing them up."

"Well,
I'd say that Bambi Fontaine could be a size sixteen, although I think the dress
she was wearing that night was a fourteen."

We hadn't
gone very far until we quit talking and listened to Mitch Ryder and the Detroit
Wheels warn us about a
Devil With a Blue Dress On.
It made me wonder if
Sirius XM Radio would be giving me clues, or would God continue to give all of
them to Lou. Could Bambi be the devil with a blue dress on? I tried to
remember, but I didn't think any of my dates had worn a blue dress.   

+++

I planned
to start my investigation from the beginning, which meant my first encounter
with anyone involved would be with the couple who implemented the dating
service. After a drive the old way, without interstates, and stopping for
breakfast, I pulled up in front of a large, upscale home in one of
Lexington
's most respected older
neighborhoods.

"Well,
Lou. This is it. We're on."

"You're
on, Cy. I didn't get any credentials for this."

"But
you still have my back, don't you?"

"We'll
see how it goes."

I stepped
out of the van and headed up the walkway toward a three-story, red brick house
with a large front porch. No one was sitting on the front porch sipping an iced
tea, inviting me to come up and sit a spell. Not a lot of people in
Kentucky
are porch-sitters in January. And
no one was holding open the front door to welcome us either, so I arrived at
the door and rang the bell. A few seconds later a woman around fifteen years my
senior opened the door.

"Are
you gentlemen here because of the dating service?"

"We
are."

"Well,
I'm afraid we can't do anything in person. Each of you will have to fill out an
application and mail it in. Then we will contact you about your date and where
you are to meet the woman who'll be your date."

"I've
already done that."

"Then
you should have received something in the mail."

"I
did. And I've gone out with three women you have fixed me up with."

"I
guess none of them worked out, and now you're here to complain."

"No.
One of them was quite nice."

"Then
you're here to thank us."

"Actually,
I'm here about some people who won't be using your service anymore."

"Shouldn't
they be the one contacting us? What's your connection?"

"They
can't contact you because they are dead, and my reason for being here is they
were murdered. I'm Cy Dekker, Special Investigator for the Lexington Police
Department, and this is my associate, Lou Murdock."

The word
"murdered" seemed to unnerve the woman. She looked at me for a few
seconds to sense if I was telling the truth. Evidently my serious demeanor
convinced her I was.

"Murdered.
Surely you don't think we had anything to do with it."

"I'm
not accusing you of anything. I just have a few questions. Are you Edna
Comstock?"

"No,
I'm her mother, Irma Childers. Arthur and Edna are in the back. See, the front
room is our office. They live in the rest of the house. Would you like for me
to get them for you?"

"I
would. Do you mind if we come in?"

I could
tell that she minded, but she knew she was afraid of what we might do if she
said "no," so she opened the door and motioned us to a couple of
chairs while she went to fetch her daughter and son-in-law."

A minute
or so later, Mrs. Childers returned with the Comstocks.

"Irma
said something about murder, and that our service is involved. What is this all
about? I don't know anything about a murder."

"Mr.
Comstock, I'm not accusing any of the three of you of any wrongdoing, but I do
have some questions for you. I would like to talk to each of you separately,
and I'd like to start with you, Mr. Comstock."

He turned
to look at the two women, who seemed to understand what alone meant, so they
left for another part of the house.

"Please
have a seat. Can I get you gentleman something to drink before we start? We
have coffee, iced tea, soft drinks, and water."

"No
thank you. I just have a few questions for each of you. Mr. Comstock, I'll be
straightforward with you. I've been working on this for over a week. I've used
a couple of aliases and tested your service to see how it works."

"You
mean you've actually met some women using our service?"

"That's
right."

"I'm
sorry to hear that you were less than honest with us. I hope you'll share the
details with us, so we can inform the women you dated. But I hope you were
satisfied with our service."

"I'm
sorry I deceived these women, too, but there have been several murders
involving men and women who have used your service, and it's possible someone
else who has used your service may be responsible."

"Really?
Well, as you know, we don't screen our clients. If that turns out to be true,
maybe we should start doing so."

"Why
don't we begin with you telling me how the process works from your standpoint.
Act like I know nothing about how it works."

"Well,
for the most part, my wife and I have always thought that married couples are
happier than single people. Like I said, there are exceptions. Some people are
better off being single. But most of the happy people we have known over the
years are married. Of course, that's if they married the right person," he
said as he laughed.

"Anyway,
a few years ago, I felt I needed to make a career change. I was tired of the
rat race. My wife and I were talking one day and we came up with the idea of a
matchmaking service. We planned to bring single men and single women together
for a small fee. To match the right people together we needed to find out
something about each of these people. And so,  Just For You was born. The name
was my wife's idea. I didn't particularly care for it, but I agreed to go along
with her whims. We started out part-time. In a few short months, we had managed
to save enough money to ride it out for six months if we kept our expenses
down. Well, I'm here to tell you the success of the service has exceeded our
wildest dreams. And naturally, I was able to quit my job. I haven't regretted
it yet."

"Up
until the murders."

"Excuse
me?"

"Once
news gets out about these murders you might have to have another career
change."

"But
we didn't have anything to do with them."

"And
we hope to prove that. But someone is responsible, and you might be able to
help us find out who it is. So, please carry on. Tell me more about your
service."

"Well,
you know most of this, but here's how it works. For the most part we have no
idea how many clients we will have each day until the mail arrives. The mailman
dropped off our mail this morning, a few minutes before you arrived. My
mother-in-law brought it back to us, and my wife and I were busy going through
it when you rang. Anyway, each day, when it arrives, we check to see if we have
any new clients. If we do we look to make sure they mailed us a check, and if
they filled out the application correctly. Once we have done that, we separate
the applications into two stacks, one for men, one for women. Then we will go
through each application to see if each person is a close enough match to send
them out on a date with another of our applicants. While making money is
important to us, we want to be able to match each client with someone with whom
they can begin a relationship. In order to match people, all three of us goes
over each application. Two of the three of us must agree before we put a couple
together. If we find a match in either that day's mail or our files, we put
something in the mail to both of them the next morning. We set up their date
for a few days after they receive their notification. The mailman knows the
nature of our business and always stops to give us our mail as soon as
possible, and to see if we have any outgoing mail. Most days we do."

"Do
you ever have someone that you feel is not a good match for any of your other
applicants?"

"In
the two years we have done this, we've had only two in the
Central Kentucky
area. If we don't arrange a
dinner date for someone within six weeks, we send them a note of apology and
refund their money."

"Please
go on with what happens next."

"Well,
we mail each client information that has the name of the person they are to
meet, where they are to meet them, and the time."

"How
did you happen upon The Cheesecake Factory as a place for them to meet?"

"We
were around before The Cheesecake Factory opened in
Lexington
, so it hasn't always been the
place where our couples meet. But when that restaurant opened, we thought it
would be a natural for what we were doing. Just walking into that place cheers
up a person, and with the wait they usually have to get a table it allows each
couple some time to get to know each other before dinner. We just ask them to
refrain from giving the other person their last name and where they live. Did these
murders happen when these couples were out on their dates?"

"No.
Later."

"Then
why associate them with our company?"

"Because
the only connection we have for all of them is that they used your agency.
Please carry on."

"Well,
each couple goes on a date, then mails us back a green, yellow, or red card as
to the success of that date. Part of what the mailman delivers each day are
those cards. If both the man and the woman send us back a green card, we send each
of them the full name, address, and phone number of the person they dated, so
that they can get on with seeing if they are meant for each other. We have had
a few of our couples marry. But if the date didn't work out for one of them, or
if someone isn't sure and wants another date with someone else, we go through
the matching process again. We give each person up to three chances to find the
person of their dreams."

"And
have you had anyone who still wasn't satisfied after three dates?"

"A
few."

"Any
of them get angry and call you?"

"A
couple, but that is rare. While not everyone makes a love connection, most feel
their experience was worth the hundred dollars they paid."

"Are
you, your wife, and your mother-in-law always at home?"