Chapter 34
Hayley leaned against the bar at Drinks Like a Fish later that afternoon and quietly absorbed what Rupert Stiles had just told her. She was not entirely surprised, but it still raised her suspicions, enough so that she thought she better hear it again just to be sure.
“You told him what?”
Rupert, who was hunched over on his bar stool, clutching his glass as if he was holding on to it for dear life, took a generous swig of the whiskey, and then turned to Hayley with his vacant, watery eyes. He had probably been drinking for quite some time. “I told him I’ve pretty much been in love with Regina Knoxville my whole life.”
“Julio Garcia.”
Rupert nodded. “Yup.”
“When did this happen?”
“In his shop. I got my beard trimmed a few weeks ago. I go in once a year in the summer and he cleans it up a bit before I let it grow long during the fall and winter months. Keeps me warm. But by spring, the dang thing is practically down to my kneecaps.”
“How did the topic of Regina Knoxville even come up?”
“Because she was there.”
“In the salon?”
“Yup. Two chairs down from me. She couldn’t hear us talking though, on account of her being underneath one of Julio’s old-fashioned hair dryers. Julio noticed me staring at her through the mirror, and he asked if I had a little crush on Regina. Well, I told him I’d been carrying a torch for her ever since we met on the playground in the fifth grade. She didn’t pay me much mind though, back then. Fact is, like I told you before, she’s never paid me much mind, ever. Except to laugh at me. Still, all these years, right up until the day she died, whenever I’d see her my heart would get this little flutter.”
Hayley hadn’t expected to learn such a revelation when she first arrived at her brother’s bar to meet Bruce for a drink after work and saw Rupert at the far end of the bar singing along to an old Reba McEntire ditty playing on the jukebox. She had decided to just stop by and say hello, but then the topic of Regina Knoxville came up and not long after that Rupert had made this stunning admission. It wasn’t proof of anything, but it sure was odd that Rupert had at one point been arrested for Caskie Lemon-Hogg’s murder and that Hayley may have uncovered some circumstantial evidence that Julio or his wife may have been involved. But the gray beard Hayley had found in the closet connected one or both of them to Caskie Lemon-Hogg’s murder, not Regina Knoxville’s killing. Still, someone was trying very hard to pin Caskie Lemon-Hogg’s murder on Rupert. And maybe that same person was going to try to do the same with Regina Knoxville’s murder, knowing Rupert had long-simmering, unrequited feelings for her that could have somehow given way to bitter resentment.
A thought popped into Hayley’s head and she leaned in closer to Rupert. “When exactly did you notice your credit card was missing?”
“Let me think,” Rupert said, scratching his beard and then taking another swig of his whiskey. “Might have been later that day, after I got my beard trimmed, I’m not sure. I kept meaning to call and cancel the card, but I got to drinking and forgot all about it.”
Perhaps Caskie’s killer had counted on that.
The desk clerk’s description of the gray-bearded man and Rupert’s actual credit card being used to reserve the room was enough to get him arrested. The killer just didn’t expect him to have such an airtight alibi, since Rupert spent much of his time alone and inebriated at home.
Hayley strongly suspected that both murders were connected, but how? There was nothing yet that suggested Rupert was responsible for strategically placing that beehive near where Regina Knoxville was picking blueberries. Besides, according to him, he was allergic to bees too.
At that moment, Bruce breezed through the door of the bar, late as usual. He signaled Randy to get him a bottle of Stella Artois since Bruce hated the flat taste of beer from the tap. Hayley squeezed Rupert’s arm and thanked him for talking to her, and then she made a beeline over to Bruce. He noticed she didn’t have a cocktail in her hand.
“This is a first. No drink. Since when are you on the wagon?”
“I got distracted. I think Julio Garcia is trying to frame Rupert Stiles for both murders!”
“Whoa, hold on. What? Why?”
“Well, we know Julio was having an affair with Regina. Maybe the whole thing went south and there was some reason he wanted to get rid of her—”
“And so he just trotted out to the park with a beehive, hoping the bees would target Regina? That’s insane! And how does that frame Rupert?”
“It doesn’t. Not yet. But Rupert admitted he still carried a torch for Regina, and maybe Julio was going to plan to use that against him . . .”
“Yes, but, Hayley, Rupert was arrested for Caskie’s murder, not Regina’s. It doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
“I know. But the gray beard I found in Julio’s closet, the credit card Julio could have easily swiped when Rupert was in the salon getting his beard trimmed . . . all the signs keep pointing back to him . . .”
“But why frame Rupert for Caskie’s murder? I understand why he would use Rupert to cover his tracks for Regina. But as far as we know, Rupert didn’t care about Caskie at all, so why set him up for that one?”
“I don’t know. We’re still missing some pieces of the puzzle.” Hayley ran the facts over in her mind again. “But what if Julio was having affairs with both Caskie and Regina, and they found out about each other and things got out of hand and Julio was afraid they would tell Jeanette?”
“It’s not possible,” Bruce said.
“Why not?”
“Because Julio wasn’t attracted to Caskie Lemon-Hogg. He told me so himself when he was cutting my hair a couple of months ago, and Caskie was at the cash register causing a scene, claiming she had been overcharged for some skin creams she had bought on her last visit, which she had seen for half the price on Amazon. I remember Julio specifically telling me he didn’t like women taller than himself, especially tall women who talked too loud, like Caskie.”
“He could have made an exception.”
“Trust me, he was pretty emphatic about it. I’m sorry, babe, but there is no way Julio would ever have an affair with Caskie, which blows a big wide hole through your theory.”
“Then what did he have against her? Other than her complaints about him charging too much for a bottle of facial cream?”
“That’s hardly a reason to kill her.”
“It still could be Jeanette,” Hayley suggested.
“But if Julio was sleeping with Regina, why would the scorned wife kill Caskie?”
Hayley sighed, frustrated. “I don’t know . . .”
The questions just kept piling up.
With no concrete answers in sight.