The Beginning (10 page)

The next morning bright and early Frank, Frankie, Minerva and I were in the courtroom for Jerome’s bail hearing. So was Marlowe. I couldn’t help but look at him; I really could not stand the man. At least today he was dressed in his uniform. It was well pressed and his shoes were shined. He even shaved for the occasion. Too bad it was such a terrible occasion. And I hated to admit it, but he was a pretty good looking guy.

Marcella entered the courtroom and I went over to greet her. Frankie followed me.

I gave her a hug. “It will be Ok.” I told her, and I meant it. Come hell or high water I will make it ok.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “He’s a black man and this is the south.”

Funny, that thought never hit me. Very few people here had a southern accent. Yes, you can’t get much further south than Florida, but there were so many transplants here that it just doesn’t hit you. I didn’t know what to say to her. Luckily Frankie did.

“Marcella, come with me. I want to introduce you to Jerome’s lawyer.”

He took her over and introduced her to the lawyer. Remembering the comment she just made I was wondering how smart Frankie’s choice was. This man looked every bit the southern gentleman. He was wearing a white suit and a bow tie with white polished cowboy boots. He had a moustache and beard that was reminiscent of that man on the fried chicken bucket.  However, he smiled at Marcella and helped her to her seat. I felt a little better at his show of chivalry.

Frankie returned to sit beside me just in time for Jerome to enter. He looked terrible. I wondered if he’d slept. I sure wouldn’t have. The lawyer greeted Jerome, patted him on the back and said a few words to him. I felt better; maybe the lawyer will be ok. I should know Frankie well enough by now than to doubt him.

We all stood for the Judge.  The bond hearing was very short. Judge Kramer decided there was not enough evidence to even keep Jerome, let alone set a bail. Jerome was released and Marlowe got an earful about conducting investigations properly. That was my favorite part. Even I knew Marlowe jumped the gun.

Frankie and I went up to congratulate Jerome. He and Marcella were hugging each other. She was crying. There were photographers taking pictures. I recognized the one from the Neuspech News.

We invited Jerome and Marcella to go out to lunch with us, but they declined. Jerome really wanted to go home and see his kids. I understood that. I hugged them both and they left.

So Frank, Frankie, Minerva, and I went to the buffet restaurant for lunch. I hated to say it but I was getting sick of this place. There weren’t very many restaurants here in Neuspech. The ones we did have were either your usual fast food, or places you really did not want to eat in. This was probably the best restaurant in town, but I’d just eaten here way too many times. I didn’t even like the way it smelled any more.

“You’re going to need some new restaurants here if you want to attract the tourists,” Minerva said. “Especially the ones with money.”

“Maybe that chief friend of yours can open one here,” I said to Frankie.

“No, we’re not big enough for him.  Maybe in a few years when we’ve grown, but not now.”

“Oh. Well then maybe we can talk Minerva in to moving down here and opening up a restaurant,” I said looking at Minerva.

“I’m thinking about it,” Minerva said looking at me kind of warily.

What did she just say? Did she say she was thinking of moving here and opening a restaurant? No, I must have heard wrong.  Because that probably meant that Frank was thinking about it too.

“I’m sorry, what?” I said.

“Yeah, I’m thinking about it.” Minerva said. “And Frank here is considering staying so he can run your security team for you.”

I turned and eyed my ex-husband. “What?”

“It’s not definite yet,” he said.

I knew that Frank could read my mood from across the room, let alone across the table. Not that I was much good at hiding my emotions any way. Frankie just leaned back and avoided looking at any of us. He knew. Frankie knew and he didn’t tell me.

“You can’t just leave your job,” I said to Frank. “They’ll need a new police chief first.”

“They can handle it. Besides, I have enough years in that I can retire. I’ll keep my cabin so I can go up there on hunting trips. But like I said, it’s not definite yet,” Frank said.

“Let’s go look at the desserts,” Frankie said to Minerva. With that the two of them left the table. I thought I felt the wind as they went past.

“Frank, this is my adventure. Not ours. Not yours. Mine.”

“I know, Misty, but you could use my help.”

“But you don’t help, Frank, you take over. Or you make me give it up to suit your view of what I should be.  And when you take over I no longer have a say. You take control.”

“So that’s it, you think I’m going to take over?”

“Yes. You always do. Every time I’ve ever had a problem you would jump in and fix it without even asking me if I wanted your help. Which I usually didn’t. You never seemed to think I could solve my problems myself.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes it is, Frank. You take over and I give in. Well, I’m not giving in this time.”

“Misty, I only tried to help when it seemed like you’d hit a dead end. You are a great problem solver. You just don’t give yourself enough credit and you give up too easily.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, Misty you do. You have never had enough faith in yourself. You’re very smart, and you’re resourceful, you just don’t realize it.”

I reached across the table and took Frank’s hand.  “Ok, I’m smart. I’m glad you think so, because I just had a thought that amuses me.” I smiled at him.

“What’s that?”

“I’d be your boss if you stayed.” I laughed at this.

Frank just froze for a moment. “Maybe I should reconsider,” he said.

“Nope, you’re doing it. I can’t wait to be your boss.”

“Please, Misty, you were my boss from the day we met.”

“No, you were just a wimp and did whatever I said.”

“I was young, in love, and stupid.”

I smiled and looked at him, “You were never stupid. Well, not any more so than any other teenage boy who was in love.”

We both laughed. Ok, maybe it will be ok.

Frankie and Minerva returned to the table with two plates that were filled with every dessert that was at the buffet. 

“We good now?” Frankie asked.

“We are. I think I’ll enjoy being Dad’s boss,” I said.

We all laughed at this and began to share the desserts among the four of us.

“Hey, I just realized something. Frankie, you haven’t said what your plans are,” I said.

Frankie stopped eating and sighed.

“I haven’t decided yet”, he said. “I could work remotely so I could keep my old job and still help out here. Or I could focus on the park and quit that job. Or I could go back to Pennsylvania and only come here when and if I am needed.  Regardless, I am keeping my CFO title and I’m staying involved with the park.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were considering all of this?” I had been so focused on everything else it never occurred to me that my son had a big decision to make.  I felt kind of guilty.

“Well, yeah, Mom, I do own half of the park. I’ve got a stake in its success.  But right now, clearing Jerome is more important. Everything else can wait. My little grey cells will work on it in the mean time.”

“You’re right,” I said. I had a belief that problems set aside were still being worked on by the brain. The answer will come; Frankie will just have to wait.

I pulled out my note book and the four of us looked at the information Frankie and I had gathered so far. It didn’t add up to much. Our suspects were Adolf, Julio, and this woman Cindy. Not much to go on.

“Thank God, the judge set Jerome free this morning,” Frankie said. We all nodded in agreement.

“Excuse me,” one of the servers asked Frankie, “but did I just hear you say that Jerome was out of jail?”

“That’s what I said, yes ma’am,” Frankie said.

She put her hand to her chest. “Oh, thank you Jesus,” she said. Then she yelled, “Jerome’s out.”

The restaurant suddenly got noisy as the word spread and the excitement level grew. 

“But,” Frankie said to the girl, “he’s not out of it yet. The police still think he did it.”

“He didn’t do it,” the girl said.

“We know that. But the question is who did?” I said.

“Maybe it was that no good husband of hers,” someone yelled.

“Or one of the men she was cheatin’ on him with,” called someone else.

“Oh, or maybe that friend of hers. You know that mean lady. Mrs. Schotter?”

“Who is Mrs. Schotter?” I asked. Did I have another suspect?

Our waitress looked at us. “Well, they say Mrs. Schotter and Mrs. Neuspech was sneaking men in to the park at night for a little fun. And I don’t mean fun like the park was intended.”

“Does Mrs. Schotter have a first name?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am. It be Cindy,” a tiny voice spoke up from the back.

Frankie and I looked at each other. Could this be the Cindy we’ve been looking for? We both stood up to see who it was. The voice belonged to this little tiny African-American woman who looked like she was eighty if she was a day.  She was sitting at a table in the back wearing a maid’s uniform.  I grabbed my notebook and pen and walked back to her table.

“May I join you?” I said.

“Yes, ma’am. Please do sit down,” she smiled up at me.

I sat across from her. The people around me watched. I didn’t know if they were curious or protective of her. Either way I wasn’t worried.

“My name is Misty; I’m one of the new owners of the park. That gentleman over there is my son Frankie. Also one of the new owners.”

“It be a pleasure to meet you. My name is Aretha.”  She stuck out her hand and I took it. I tried to shake her hand lightly; I didn’t want to break her.

“Like the singer?”

“Yes, ma’am. Only I had the name first,” she said with some dignity.

I just smiled at this. I liked Aretha.

“Miss Aretha, we know Jerome didn’t kill Mrs. Neuspech,” I said.

“No. ma’am, he surely didn’t. He’s a good boy I’ve known him since he was a wee baby,” Aretha said.

“Yes, he is very good man. Can you tell me anything about this Cindy that might help the police look at her instead of Jerome?”

“Well, ma’am. I can tell you that Mrs. Schotter and Mrs. Neuspech was good friends. They’d sneak men in to Mrs. Schotter’s home at night for some drinkin' and other sinnin'. That ain’t no way for a married lady to behave,“ she said shaking her head.

“No, ma’am, it’s not.” I said.

“One night Mr. Schotter he comes home early from one of his trips. He catches those two sinin' with those men. I tell you, there was some screamin’ that night. Woo, I had a mess to clean up the next mornin' they threw so much stuff at each other.” She was chuckling at the thought.

“Wow, it sounds like they both have a bad temper. Do you mind if I write this down. It might help clear Jerome, and I don’t want to forget anything.”

“You go right on ahead, honey. After that fight, that’s when Mrs. Schotter started to go out at night. She wouldn’t come back home until after three of four am in the mornin'. And she went out whether Mr. Schotter was home or not.”

“Miss Aretha, do you live in Mrs. Schotter’s house?”

“No, ma’am. I live in the small building they call a coach house. Mr. and Mrs. Schotter have apartments there for me, the cook, and the butler.”

“Then how do you know she started going out at night and staying out so late?”

“Because she would take the back road to the park and the lights from her car would shine in my window.”

“Very smart. Miss Aretha, do you know if Mrs. Schotter was home the night Mrs. Neuspech was killed?”

“Well, ma’am. No, I don’t. I know that I wasn’t woken up by no car lights that night. I know she was drinkin’ something fierce that night. I also know she was mad and kept yelling something about how dare she do this to me.”

“Did she say who ‘she’ was?” I asked.

“No, ma’am, but she did mention somethin' about how she thought the lady was dead and if she was hiding all this time she should have told her.” Aretha paused for a moment. “In fact, she did say somethin’ like, I could kill her or I want to kill her.”

“Is there anything else you might remember that could help Jerome?”

“No, ma’am. Not that I can think of.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Miss Aretha. I promise I will not mention your name when I tell Chief Campion about this.”

“Thank you, ma’am, I would appreciate it. I don’t need to get mixed up with the law at my age.”

I bid Aretha good day and headed back to my table. I would have given her a hug, but I didn’t want to break her. I smiled at Frankie. He smiled back.