Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date (19 page)

It was
time to take a break. I looked at my watch. It was lunchtime.

"Lou,
are you up to going to Antonio's for lunch?"

I was
afraid that working a case again might put some weight back on me, but
hopefully we would solve it soon and I could get back to my new routine.

Lou and I
bundled up and headed out the door. The temperature was in the mid-thirties.
The wind had a mind of its own. Its intent was to blow over a couple of guys
who weren't as big as they used to be. I made it to the van, started it, and
was serenaded by the Loving Spoonful, and Lou joined in as they sang the line,
"What a day for a daydream." Well, it would have been, if it were
forty degrees warmer, the sun was shining, and we didn't have to solve someone
else's murder for them.

At some
restaurants, like The Cheesecake Factory, Lou and I order something different
each time, but at Antonio's we usually get
Stromboli
’s and French fries with gravy. There's no reason to mess with
perfection. Eating there didn't bring us any closer to solving the case, but it
put us in a better frame of mind.

Not long
after we got back to the van Herman's Hermits were leaning on a lamppost and
Lou was leaning against the window. He quit as soon as he started to get cold
from leaning against the glass. Luckily, I lived only three or four songs from
Antonio's, so we were soon back at my house, full, but with no more information
to help us solve the case. Hopefully, the time off from using our brains would
allow us to operate at full throttle.

Lou and I
opted for comfortable seats and a discussion of great books and movies for a
few minutes before getting back to tackling the case.

I was
about to put things back in motion when the phone rang. I jumped up to answer
the house phone, when I realized that someone was calling my cell instead. When
I saw the number didn't register I took the phone in the other room so Lou
couldn't hear.

"Cy,
this is Eve."

"You
mean someone has confessed and we don't have to do anything else?"

"No,
just an update on some of the people we had under surveillance today."

"Had?"

"Yep.
Some of them are on the loose."

"Not
long after the mailman dropped off the mail at the Comstock's house slash
business each of the three of them headed out. Each in a different car. Each to
a different place. Arthur Comstock seemed to be in quite a hurry. His
mother-in-law, the last to leave, looked rather sneaky as she left, and
constantly checked to see if anyone noticed her leaving. Our man thinks she
didn't see him. Also, we had someone follow Phil Pendleton, but at one of the
doctor's offices our guy missed Pendleton as he left. And Marge Shockley
spotted the guy who was following her and she was able to give him the slip.
So, it's Thursday and several of our suspects are unaccounted for. You have
anything yet?"

"No,
Lou and I are going over everything we know, but we're not ready to make an
arrest yet."

"Well,
if you're ready to arrest me, let me know. Or feel free to interrogate me at
The Cheesecake Factory, or in your car in a dark and secluded place."

"Well,
I admit it's the best sounding offer I've had so far this morning. I'll run it
by my girlfriend and see what she thinks."

"You
do that, Cy. And Cy, thanks for helping us with this. One more head could be
just what we need."

"There
are a lot of times I can use another head. A couple of more hands, too."

"Just
let me know if the ones you request are mine."

I hung up
and hoped that Jennifer hadn't tapped my phone. Well, actually I hadn't done
anything wrong. I wondered if a guy who isn't married is allowed to dream of
three women, or only one.

After I
hung up, I did something I shouldn't have done. I walked back into the other
room just as Lou slipped onto a seat at my dining room table.

"What's
the best offer you've had all morning, Cy?"

"Are
you listening in on my phone calls?"

"Not
as much as I'd like to. Let me guess. Jennifer probably doesn't know we are
home, and Sarah Jane doesn't have your phone number. So, my guess is that your
call was from a detective who would like to put you in handcuffs."

I filled
Lou in on what Eve Sanchez had told me. We wondered if it was simply five
people who were out about their business, or four people who were out about their
business and one out decreasing
Lexington
's population. I hoped it was the first.

"Okay,
Lou, where were we?"

"Well,
it looks like you are out somewhere in La-La Land, trying to decide whether to
go for bachelorette number one, number two, or number three."

"I've
already picked number one. Now, go on. Let's move on to Patty Moran."

"I'm
not sure we need to discuss her until we hear back from Sam, telling us whether
or not she was on a cruise with a friend. Besides, she seemed awfully broken up
by Ben Connaughton's death."

"And
I agree. I think she's the second most innocent of all of our suspects."

"How
can someone be the second-most innocent? I thought someone was either innocent
or guilty."

"You
know what I mean. Now are you ready to move on?"

"Yeah,
I think we ought to move back to the living room. It's more comfortable in
there. If I promise not to fall asleep can we resume in more comfortable
confines?"

"As
you wish. And you don't even have to stay awake."

We
changed rooms and moved on to the next person.

"Okay,
that brings us to Phil Pendleton. You said he gave someone the slip this
morning."

"I'm
not sure about that. I would think he would be the hardest to follow of any of
our suspects, calling on all those doctors."

"Not
to mention dropping off or picking up his dry cleaning."

I gave him
a look. He moved back in line.

"Cy,
I don't know if you agree or not, but I didn't think he seemed quite as broken
up with his date's death as Patty Moran did with hers. And he could have gotten
away between calls or after he finished for the day to murder someone, pick up
a birthday present, and make it to the dinner on time."

"Wow,
Lou! That's twice in a row I agree with you. I have him as a confident bird.
I'm just not sure if he's merely someone who feels good about himself, or a
murderer who thinks he won't get caught. In the meantime, I'll put him in the Likely
category."

"I
think I will, too, Cy, as long as you don't comment about how agreeable I am.
So, whom do we have left?"

"Well,
let me see. There's Charles Hacker, Marge Shockley, and Emily French."

"Well,
I've got an opinion on all three of those without discussing them. I think the
first two are likely, while Emily isn't."

"So,
you think that Emily French was only being cautious when we stopped by, and not
doing what her victims failed to do by keeping a latch on their doors?"

"Well,
it would be ironic if she, who looks innocent, is actually guilty, while
Charles Hacker, who tried to get in her duplex is actually innocent. One thing
is for sure. Both Hacker and Marge Shockley have tempers. I'm not sure if the
murderer is a temperamental person or not."

"Me,
either, Lou, which brings us to something very important. Whoever murdered
these people had a reason for doing so. Can you think of any reason what caused
someone to unravel like this?"

"I've
got no idea. I think if we knew that we might know which one is murdering
people."

"Okay,
let's change topics. Who could have convinced each of the victims to open his
or her door?"

"Well,
as we know, some people will open their door to anyone, even after dark, not
realizing that whoever is there could be dangerous."

"I think
most people are more cautious after dark. And I believe some of these people
were murdered after dark. But then others were murdered during the day."

"So,
whom would someone open the door to?"

"Well,
cops, if they had on a uniform."

"Yeah,
and someone delivering a pizza."

"Lou,
I don't think all of the murdered victims had ordered pizza just before getting
murdered."

"No,
but maybe they opened the door when someone said they were trying to find such
and such a house. Most people like to be helpful."

"But
what if they started to open the door and whoever it was didn't have a pizza
box?"

"Maybe
he or she had an empty pizza box with a syringe just underneath."

"So,
other than cops or someone they knew, we have no idea who they would have
opened the door to, and I doubt if all the victims knew their attacker."

"I
think I can agree with that."

We were
doing a lot of agreeing, but it wasn't getting us anywhere.

Lou and I
sat around mulling things over. By the time I realized what time it was it was
after
5:00
.

"Look,
we're not getting anywhere. Why don't I take you home, and if you want to go
over things there, fine? Otherwise, we can put off thinking about this until
tomorrow."

Lou sat
up, bent over, and put on his shoes, then headed to where he had tossed his
coat. I matched him shoe for shoe, and went to the coat rack where I hung my
coat when I got home. Neither of us talked much or sang to the music as I took
Lou home. He got out like a defeated man, the way most of us usually do when
we're unable to identify a dangerous criminal.

I'd been
home only a few minutes when the phone rang. It was Lou.

"You
mean you've already figured it out?"

"A
lot worse than that, Cy. I received another message."

"That's
especially bad on a Thursday. I think it's safe to say that Mr., Mrs., or Miss
Eluded the Police has struck again. What's the message?"

"The
name rings a bell. The name rings a bell."

"I
heard you the first time, Lou."

"No,
this time the message was repeated."

"Do
you think that means that we're looking for two people?"

There was
silence on the other end of the phone. That silence meant the same as when Lou
gave me a look when he was with me in person. Many times he has claimed that he
only receives the clues. He doesn't know what they mean.

I broke the
silence.

"Well,
if it is two people, I think the most likely suspects are the Comstocks. And
the clue was repeated. They are the only suspects with the same last name. I
just can't see them doing something that will eventually hurt their business. I
mean I can see someone like this if they feel they have to do this in order to
hide a worse crime, but I can't think of a worse crime than killing a bunch of
people."

"And
I can't imagine that all of these people would know whatever secret the Comstocks
might have."

I thanked
Lou for letting me know, then went to my other phone to call Eve Sanchez.

"Eve.
This is Cy. I know this will be difficult for you to understand, but I think
someone else has been or will be murdered today."

"Me,
too. We just received the call a few minutes ago. I'm on my way there
now."

I asked
her who it was, and wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or not when the name
she told me was someone I had not yet heard of.

"Cy,
did this feeling you had that someone had been murdered today come from the
fact that today is Thursday and all of the murders have happened on a Thursday,
or something else?"

"Something
else."

"Well,
I'm almost to the scene now and need to get busy. I'll call you as soon as I
can and get your take on this."

I told
her that was fine and we ended the call.

Another
murder. Another human life snuffed out just because we hadn't been able to
figure out who was responsible. As I sat there contemplating whether or not to
delve again into the case or forget about it for the night the phone rang again.

"Cy.
Sam."

"I
hope you have something for me."

"A
little, but very little. I can eliminate one of your suspects. Patty Moran was
indeed on a cruise and nowhere near
Lexington
when her boyfriend was murdered. If you think the same person
has murdered all of these people then you can mark her off your list and hope
that no one gets her."

I told
Sam about the most recent murder, gave him the victim's name, and asked him if
he was familiar with her.

"Not
until a few minutes ago. She and her date were the latest to send back a green
card."

"When
did she send it back?"

"Hers
arrived in yesterday's mail."

"Yesterday?
Wednesday? And she's already been murdered. What was the guy's name?"

Sam told
me. I told him to tell me if he came up with more about any of the victims, and
then hung up. I contemplated whether or not to call Eve with the information. I
decided to call when I realized that the call might save another life.

"Sanchez."

"I
know you're busy, but I have some information. The Comstocks just received the
victim's green card yesterday. I know who she dated. You might send someone to
his place and maybe prevent another murder."

"We
just arrived at the same conclusion. We called him, but he didn't answer his
phone. Someone's on the way to his place. I've got to go now, but later I want
to know how you knew all of this."

"I'll
be here. Call no matter how late it is."

I hung up
the phone and wondered if today's clue, "The name rings a bell,"
repeated, meant that there were two murders, instead of two murderers.

There was
nothing to do, and it was suppertime, so I shuffled off to the kitchen to fix
myself some dinner. I heated some store-bought meatballs and grilled something
I would never have expected to eat a year earlier, asparagus. But I had grown
to like it. It wasn't ready to compete with bacon or chocolate, but it had
moved off my unmentionables list.

Supper
didn't take me long to fix, and I received no more interrupting phone calls on
either my house or cell phone. I tried to enjoy my food, but it was hard,
knowing that there must be something we were overlooking.

Eve
didn't call back, and I spent the rest of the night lying in my recliner, not
in a mood to do anything.
Reading
was out, and I wasn't in the mood to watch a movie or laugh with one of my
classic comedy TV shows, although that was probably what I needed.

I must
have been tired, because I fell asleep in the recliner. I dreamed of being
chased by Eve Sanchez, Sarah Jane Fulkerson, and four women named Jennifer.
When I realized who was chasing me I slowed my pace. Just as all of them caught
up to me and were messing up my hair and whispering sweet nothings in my ear my
phone rang. It was one  of the women in my dream.

"Cy,
sorry I'm so late, but we didn't get to Bob Blankenberger's house on
time."

"Who
was murdered first, and do you have any idea of the time?"

"We
don't know for sure, but we suspect that whoever is responsible murdered Sally
Caruthers first. It doesn't matter. We didn't get to either of them on time.
We're trying to decide whether or not to shut down the dating service until we
find out who's responsible for this."

"Well,
if things go the way they have been going, at least we have another week to
solve these murders."

"That's
a small consolation, Cy. That's all I have. I'm going home to get some sleep.
You do the same. Maybe we'll be able to look at this with a refreshed mind in
the morning and see something we haven't seen before."

"I
hope so. Goodnight."

"Oh,
I'll call you in the morning and you can tell me how you knew they had been
murdered. I'm too tired to care now."

I
wondered how she would take an explanation that Lou receives messages from God.
Would she put me on her suspect list? Or consider me a likely candidate for the
loony bin?"

I didn't
bother to call Lou. He was probably asleep. I would let him know the next day
about the second murder. The next day was Friday. I planned to sleep late, then
get up and try a new approach. I would go over each of the messages God had
given Lou and see if I could make any sense out of them. So far I had only been
able to figure out what one of them meant.