Twelve to Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery) (19 page)

“At first, he denied everything.” A slow smile crossed Zachery’s face. “Then, he came clean. He didn’t know at the time that it was Janice Stillman who had kidnapped him. It was a couple of years after the kidnapping that he figured it out. Suddenly, she had all this money. When he confronted her about the trauma of being abducted and the guilt of killing Carson Drake, she came clean. He said Janice claimed that no one was supposed to be killed. But Lenny said Carson Drake was afraid he would tell and ruin his career and was going to kill him. That was why Janice was taking care of him—hiring him at the club and bailing him out of trouble when he needed her. At that meeting, Lenny cried and told us that killing our father had ruined his life.”

Zachery paused to take a sip from his beer.

“Lenny agreed to be my source to write the book, but only as long as I didn’t name him because Janice would cut him off. But then, after the book came out, the Stillmans sued my pants off. Lenny refused to come forward to tell how Janice had confessed to him about being behind the kidnapping. With no proof, I lost everything. My career—reputation—it was like what had happened to my mother all over again.

“Then, a couple of weeks ago, Lenny came to Sela and me with a plan.” He grinned. “That’s right. Lenny Frost came to us. It was his idea. We would kill the Stillmans for him. It would be our revenge on them. Janice Stillman had assured Lenny that he was in her will. He would inherit enough to pay Sela and I the million dollars that Janice had gotten in ransom from the studio, and he would have money left over for himself.”

Zachery sat forward in his seat. “You probably want to know why, after all these years, Lenny suddenly decided he wanted revenge on the Stillmans. Well, I asked the same thing. He said that she was forgetting about how much she owed him for having him kidnapped and terrorized and then abandoning him as soon as his career was over. Sela saw it when she met him at the comedy club one night. He went over the deep end when Janice insisted on them bringing in a new comic who was funnier than him. That same night Lenny started asking us to help him get rid of Janice.”

He sat back in his seat. His expression was one of deep thought when he took a few more sips of his beer.

“I don’t trust Lenny Frost. Neither does Sela. Both of our parents made the mistake of trusting the wrong person and ended up screwed and dead. That may happen to me. That’s why this recording is my insurance policy.

“Here is our plan. Lenny stole Derrick’s key for his parent’s summer place and had a copy made, which he had delivered to me. Derrick never realized his key had ever been missing before Lenny put it back. Sela is cozying up to Derrick Stillman to get the security passcode at the Stillman house.”

“We figured that out already,” Mac said.

“To make sure the police can’t locate her, she got the key for the home of a friend who she knows is stationed overseas,” Zachery continued. “I am going out to Deep Creek Lake to wait for Sela to call and give me the passcode. That may be difficult because Derrick Stillman doesn’t drink. He doesn’t do anything. But Sela is going to try to work her charms on him. Once she calls me with the passcode, then I am going to let myself into the house to kill them. Then, Sela is going to disappear and leave Derrick without an alibi.”

A wicked grin crossed his face. “Meanwhile, Lenny is going to establish an alibi for himself—right here in Deep Creek Lake. We know that the police will be looking at him because he is going to benefit from the murders. He’s going to be his usual jackass someplace and get recorded in some bar or get arrested picking a fight or something.”

The grin fell. “You are probably wondering why I’m doing this.” He cocked his head while looking straight into the webcam. “Someone once said you don’t really realize how much you have until it is gone. Well, when you’re a kid, you have less ability to realize how valuable everything that you have is. Like a dad, who may not have been a movie star, but certainly was great. Or a mom who was always so happy and loving until she lost the love of her life.  Imagine having it all, and then having someone rip it all out of your life before you were even old enough to appreciate what you had. All of these people ripped everything out of my life—and since no one else will make them pay—I’m going to.”

Zachery moved in closer to the camera. The corners of his lips curled. “If you, the police, get an anonymous tip, or somehow things go wrong because someone somewhere double-crossed me and Sela—look up Lenny Frost.”

The video stopped with the image of Zachery, his face twisted up in a wicked grin, peering into the camera. Unblinking, Mac stared at the image.

“Lenny Frost killed Carson Drake in self-defense,” Bogie said.

“He must have taken the money,” David said. “He knew where it was. He was the one who told Derrick where to hide it.”

“And that’s why he didn’t tell the police about killing Drake, so that he could keep the ransom for himself,” Bogie said.

“All these years,” Mac mused, “Lenny played the victim. He’s such a brilliant actor, especially when it comes to playing the victim.” He pushed up out of his seat. “He won his Academy Award playing a kidnap victim.  Why not make a million dollars playing the same role?”

David closed out the video file and saved it to his laptop. “We need to talk to Ben about getting this video accepted as evidence for Lenny’s role in these murders.”

“We’re going to need more than that video if we’re going to get Lenny into a courtroom,” Mac said. “Zachery Harris is dead. This video will be considered hearsay. Lenny’s lawyer will argue that Zachery wrote Lenny’s name in Janice’s blood to incriminate him as some sort of revenge because he blames him for Carson Drake abandoning his family and disgracing them.”

Bogie’s mustache twitched. One of his eyebrows arched. “Who’s to say that isn’t the case? We only have the word of a killer that Lenny Frost was involved in this conspiracy. Lenny had an airtight alibi.”

“Then why did he take those people hostage and order Mac to find the real killers?” David asked.

“The guy is crazy,” Bogie replied.

“Crazy like a fox,” Mac said.

“Do you believe what Zachery Harris is saying in this video?” David asked Mac.

“We need to find out what exactly happened in that pub when Lenny took those hostages,” Mac replied.

“Good luck with that,” Bogie said. “Every one of those hostages was way over the legal limit for alcohol when we rescued them.”

“Not the bartender and his family,” Mac said with a shake of his head. “They were there when Lenny took everyone hostage, and they got out before the drinking party started.”

Chapter Twenty

“Lenny Frost ruined my life.” Jason Dalton was on his hands and knees in his modest living room, mopping up urine that had been deposited by the new addition to his family.

The puppy had been ushered into the backyard by Jason’s wife, who was not speaking to him because he had promised the pet to their son. The Dalton’s young son, the only happy member of the family, was chasing the puppy for all it was worth. Squeals of delight drifted in from outside.

“Do you know how long it takes to housebreak a puppy?” Jason asked. “Do you even know how?”

“They aren’t physically able to hold it until they are four months old,” David said. “So you need to make sure they get outside to do their business every two hours—”

“It’s like having a baby all over again!”

David shrugged his shoulders. “Exactly. That’s what puppies are. Canine babies.”

Still on his hands and knees, Jason’s shoulders drooped. “My wife refuses to have anything to do with this. She said I promised Timmy the puppy—but what was I supposed to do? He refused to leave that dog and I had to get him out of there. Whoever would have thought?” He sat up and glared at David and Mac. “Can I sue Lenny Frost for this? Compensation for pain and suffering as a result of his taking us hostage?”

“I’m sure somewhere you can get a crooked lawyer willing to take the case.” Mac chuckled before turning to the reason for their visit. “Jason, we need your help.  We’re trying to sort out what happened leading up to Lenny Frost taking everyone hostage in the Blue Whale. You were the bartender. You were the one who Lenny first attacked.”

“Because I grabbed the phone to call the police.” With a sigh, Jason deposited the sponge into the bucket. Sitting back on his haunches, he rubbed his forehead while shaking his head. “What was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking. I saw the newscast about the police looking for Lenny Frost, suspected of killing his agent and her husband. His picture was on the TV.”

“That was actually on television when you were taken hostage?” Mac asked.

“I was really absorbed in it because it was happening right here in Deep Creek Lake,” Jason said. “I didn’t even look over at the door when someone walked in and up to the bar. He was standing right behind me. Then, they were interviewing that couple’s son and he said that his mother wrote Lenny’s name in her own blood. She declared that Lenny Frost was her killer.”

Jason looked from David over to Mac. “I couldn’t believe it. I turned to ask this customer behind me what I could get him and here I am, looking right into his face. Lenny Frost. The guy whose face was right on TV and the police are searching for him and he killed two people only a couple of miles away. Without even thinking, I grabbed the phone. He knocked it out of my hand. Then, I yanked open the drawer where we had the gun and he grabbed it from me. Next thing I knew, we were all taken hostages.”

“Then,” Mac said in a drawl, “Lenny Frost was behind you watching the newscast of the Stillman’s son recounting what he saw inside the house when he found the bodies?”

“Exactly,” Jason said, “that was how it happened. I have it all seared in my mind.”

Thanking him, Mac motioned to David for them to leave. As they were parting, Jason was still in a state of disbelief. Indicating where he was kneeling in the middle of a carpet surrounded by pet stains, Jason sighed, “Little did I know then that within twenty-four hours, I would end up like this.”

“It’s obvious that someone is lying,” Ben Fleming said in response to Mac and David’s report of where the Stillman murder case then stood.

“Of course,” Mac replied with a chuckle. “It’s a murder case. Someone is always lying when it comes to a homicide investigation. If everyone was sincere and functional, there wouldn’t be any murders.”

Their next trip was to the county prosecutor’s office in Oakland, Maryland. The corner office was on the third floor in city hall.

Ben Fleming’s handsome features represented his lineage. His ancestors had been tight with the Spencer family going back over a hundred years. His role in Garrett County was not only one of privilege, but also of duty and love for his country, state, and Deep Creek Lake. The brilliant lawyer and politician knew his way around cutting a deal, which often happened on the golf or tennis courts at the Spencer Inn resort. Fleming’s charisma made it difficult for his less-sincere colleagues to know on which side of justice he fell, until all of the chips landed and justice prevailed. 

Chelsea Adams was included in the meeting in Fleming’s office, which had a view of the park outside the window. With Molly laying at her feet, the paralegal took notes of the discussion. Occasionally, David would reach over to pat Molly on the head or flash Chelsea a grin, which she would coyly return.

Ben flashed a wide grin with a mouthful of white teeth in response to Mac’s observation. “Do you have anything besides Zachery Harris’ statement in his video that Lenny Frost was involved in a conspiracy to kill Janice Stillman and her husband?”

Mac and David exchanged glances.

“We do,” Mac answered, “but right now, it’s not definitive.”

“What do you mean that it’s not definitive?” Ben asked.

“A theory.”

Ben sat forward and folded his hands on top of his desk. “I always love to hear your theories, Mac.”

“Because they’re usually right.”

“Almost always,” Ben corrected him. “Tell me.”

“Right now, Jeb Winkler, the federal agent who led the investigation into Lenny Frost’s kidnapping, is taking a team up to the cabin where Lenny Frost claimed to be held during his abduction. They’re taking cadaver dogs to search for Carson Drake’s body.”

Ben chuckled. “So they find Carson Drake’s body and Lenny will go into full victim mode claiming he killed Carson Drake in self-defense. Who’s going to argue with that? Besides, the statute of limitations for involuntary manslaughter ran out years ago. What good is that going to do us in these murders? The Stillman murders? The crimes in our jurisdiction?”

“There’s no statute of limitations for murder,” Mac said, “which is what Drake’s death will be if it turns out the Stillmans didn’t mastermind his kidnapping, but Lenny did and killed Carson Drake to make him the fall guy.”

Ben looked from Mac to David, who said, “You should listen to him, Ben. It makes sense and explains everything.”

The prosecutor sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “I’m listening.”

Mac sat up in his seat. “Lenny Frost is not just a brilliant actor, but he’s also just plain brilliant. Did you know he has a genius IQ of one sixty?”

“So he’s smart,” Ben said.

“Exactly,” Mac said. “It’s a fatal combination. It’s been long proven that he’s got an addictive personality, which means he’s got to lie to keep his enablers, mainly Janice Stillman, supporting him. Who’s a better liar than a brilliant actor? And being smart, he has come up with ways to manipulate things to get him of tight corners and come out ahead, not just once, but twice.”

“How?” Ben asked.

“It all started when Lenny was ‘dating’ Kate Coleman.” Mac held up his fingers to indicate quotation marks.

Ben and Chelsea turned to David.

“Who is Kate Coleman?” Ben asked.

“Didn’t you have a crush on her?” Chelsea asked David.

“Like twenty years ago,” David replied before explaining to Ben. “She was a pop star who the media and studio paired with Lenny Frost a couple of years before he was allegedly kidnapped.”

“But he wasn’t kidnapped?” Ben asked.

“You’re getting ahead of the story,” Mac said. “Lenny Frost and Kate Coleman were dating for the media. It was all a publicity stunt. But—” He held up his finger, “I think Lenny really did develop feelings for Kate Coleman, who, in reality, was dating his best friend, Derrick Stillman.” He waved his hand. “This is total speculation on my part.”

“Then it won’t be admissible in court,” Ben said.

Mac continued, “This is fact from more than one source. Kate Coleman and Lenny Frost developed drug habits, and Carson Drake was their source. Carson Drake was a drug dealer, blackmailer, and all around leech. One night when Lenny was out doing drugs with Kate Coleman, something went terribly wrong, and he ended up killing her.”

“ME report supports that,” David said. “COD is blunt force trauma to the back of the head. The rest of her injuries occurred after death.”

“When he accidentally or purposely killed Kate, Lenny couldn’t call his best friend Derrick to help him cover it up because she was his girl,” Mac said. “So Lenny calls his go-to guy, Carson Drake, who helps him clean up his mess by making it look like an accident. Now, Drake has something to hold over Lenny’s head, in addition to his drug addiction.”

“Not to mention that Lenny owes him money for drugs,” David said, “money that he doesn’t have to pay him back.”

“Harris said Lenny told those people in group therapy that he was backed into a corner when he killed this man in self-defense,” Mac said. “I don’t think he meant literally. I think he meant metaphorically. Carson Drake was putting pressure on Lenny to set him up with Janice Stillman as his agent, make him a star, and pay him back for the drugs he was giving him. Lenny couldn’t deliver on any of that. Derrick stated that his mother considered Carson Drake a low-life and even blamed him for Kate’s death. We can only imagine what Lenny thought when Drake threatened to expose him for being the culprit who killed America’s pop sweetheart.”

“In that case,” Chelsea pointed out, “we’re not just talking about him losing his star power, but about jail time to boot.”

“So Lenny kills him?” Ben replied.

“While launching a new publicity campaign that extends his dying show for another year. He revived his career,” Mac shrugged, “for a short time, and made himself a million dollars doing it.” He chuckled, “He came up with an excellent plan that solved all his problems.”

“Derrick Stillman reported at the time of the kidnapping that the last person he saw Lenny Frost with was Carson Drake,” David said.

“If you flip it,” Mac said, “the last person Carson Drake was seen with before his disappearance was Lenny Frost. It was Lenny Frost who called the studio to make the ransom demands. It was Lenny who called Derrick Stillman to give him instructions for switching the bags with the money. Most likely, Drake was dead long before Lenny made those calls.”

“Derrick Stillman told me that Lenny Frost regularly stayed at the Stillman home,” David said. “He had his own bedroom.”

“After the kidnapping, Lenny insisted on staying with the Stillmans,” Mac said. “That gave him access to the ransom that Derrick had hidden behind the access panel. Meanwhile, Lenny’s performance as the poor kidnapping victim sent everyone in hot pursuit of a dead man.”

“You have to admit,” David said, “the plan is genius.”

Ben sat up in his chair. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s going to be to prove that Lenny Frost wasn’t the victim, but the perpetrator in his own kidnapping?” Reminding himself and them that the abduction was a federal case, he said, “Glad this is not our case. What connection does Lenny’s kidnapping, which you are saying didn’t really happen, have with the Stillman murders?”

Mac said, “Sela Wallace, a.k.a. Drake, ended up in the same group therapy session as Lenny Frost, where he confessed to having killed a man in self-defense. Not letting on who she was, she put together the pieces and realized he was talking about her father. However, she interpreted it to mean that Carson was really trying to kill Lenny. Then, Lenny found himself blackmailed again.”

“Why would Lenny confess to killing Carson Drake in a public forum like that?” Ben asked them.

“Because he’s a narcissist,” Chelsea said in a matter-of-fact tone. “To get attention. Lenny Frost is a sociopath, if not a psychopath, when you consider how many people have ended up dead because of him and his actions. Any remorse that he shows is only a great performance. Most likely, when he was in that group therapy, he had a great need, not desire, but actual need to be the center of attention, so he had to give a great performance. What  better performance than confessing to killing a man?”

“Exactly,” Mac said. “’Indirectly, that performance led to Janice and Austin Stillmans’ murders. Sela and Zachery started putting pressure on him to help them prove that the Stillmans were involved in his kidnapping. Well, Lenny couldn’t exactly do that because he was mooching off Janice Stillman, plus it wasn’t true. So, he did what he could by being Zachery’s anonymous source for his book.”

“Feeding him a pack of lies,” David said.

“When Zachery got sued and lost everything, then they really put the pressure on Lenny to go public with Janice’s confession to him about being the mastermind of the kidnapping,” Mac said.

“Which was a lie he had told Sela and Zachery,” David said.

“Once again,” Mac said, “Lenny was backed into a corner.”

“Then Janice Stillman unintentionally threatened him,” David said.

“How?” Ben asked.

“The DEA was investigating the Comedy Café for drug dealing,” David said. “They thought Derrick Stillman was behind it. Turned out it was Derrick’s administrative assistant, who is probably going to be arrested within the next twenty-four hours. She has a partner who has yet to be identified.”

“I’m willing to bet it’s Lenny Frost,” Mac said.

“Sucker’s bet,” David said. “The feds have found evidence that the assistant has been spending a lot of nights in Lenny Frost’s condo. They’re lovers. She’s not aware that she’s not the only one. Neighbors say he has women going in and out of there all the time. One of them was Sela Wallace, who was using him as much as he was using her.”

“See?” Mac replied.

David continued, “The feds asked Janice to use her influence to get an undercover operator into the club as a comic. Janice showed up at Sally Riggleman’s audition and got her in. Possibility number one, this comic was a threat because she was better than Lenny. Number two is that it’s entirely possible that Lenny sensed the comic was a fed.”

“Lenny does have a one sixty IQ,” Mac reminded Ben.

“So, when Zachery and Sela put pressure on him,” David said, “Lenny saw a way for them to get their revenge, plus get Janice and her husband out of the way, and let him take possession of his expected inheritance.”

“Then, Lenny would pay Sela and Zachery out of his inheritance to go away,” Ben said.

“I don’t think that was part of Lenny’s plan,” Mac said. “He’s too smart to leave loose ends. He killed Carson Drake after framing him for his kidnapping. I have no doubt that his plan all along was to kill Zachery and Sela. Only they were smart enough to sense it—”

“At least Zachery was,” David said. “He made that video.”

“If they were really smart, they would have recorded their conversations and then taken it to the police and turned Lenny in,” Mac said.

“They honestly believed the Stillmans were the masterminds behind Lenny’s kidnapping,” Chelsea said.

“Which was another one of their mistakes,” Mac said.

“Do you have any proof?” Ben asked in a firm tone. “I’m hearing a lot of speculation, but nothing I can take to a judge and jury.”

“The suitcase in Lenny’s room,” David said. “It had garbage bags and duct tape. Everything Lenny brought to the Wisp fit into one suitcase. I believe he planned on meeting Sela at the Blue Whale and then going back to his room to celebrate. There, he would kill her, and then stuff her into the suitcase and take her body someplace to dump it. Later, he would catch up with Zachery Harris and kill him.”

“And I believe the suicide cocktail that Sela had in her purse was meant for Lenny,” Mac said. “Their plan went south when Derrick Stillman got before the cameras and declared that Lenny had killed his parents and that his mother had actually written Lenny’s name in her own blood. Lenny expected to be a suspect, but he had an airtight alibi. When he walked into the pub and saw that on the news, that Zachery had cemented his place as a person of interest by writing Lenny’s name in Janice’s blood, he knew that he was walking into a trap. The Drakes were framing him. Lenny had to act fast. The bartender grabbed for the phone and Lenny reacted. When he managed to take possession of the gun, he turned it into a hostage situation and called for Mickey Forsythe and the police to find the killers. Once again, Lenny Frost played the role of the victim.” With a grin, Mac added, “But he’s not flawless. Lenny gave himself away when I told him that we had suspects. He told us to call him after we arrested
her
. Not
him
, but
her
.”