Chapter 24

The next day, after checking on her father and finding no change, Rory tried to get back into some sort of work routine. She spent the bulk of the morning doing all of the tasks she’d neglected after her father’s accident. On a break, she lay on the couch and stared at the ceiling, thinking about everything that had happened in the last couple weeks.

“Tammy’s got an alibi, so it looks like Mindy was killed because of something she knew about Ricky’s death. Something important.”

Sekhmet lay on the top of the couch, staring down at Rory with her paws folded under her.

“Crystal could have lied about when she found out she was pregnant and argued with Ricky about the baby. Ottomar blamed Ricky for his son’s death. We know it’s not my dad, of course, even though some people think he had a motive. Maybe someone has a grudge against the whole Zeppelin family. Or the surfing crowd.” Rory sat up. “I think we should write down what we know about Ricky’s death.”

She went into her work area and returned with a stack of blank three-by-five index cards. Sekhmet jumped down and sat on the floor facing the coffee table, giving Rory her full attention.

“I know it’s a little old-fashioned using these cards, but sometimes doing something in a different way helps me think.” Rory gently touched the top of the cat’s head with the tip of a finger.

“Let’s start with possible murderers.” Rory made out cards for Crystal and Ottomar and placed them in a column on the coffee table. “I’ll make out one for Mindy too. She could have killed Ricky for some reason we don’t know about yet, then someone killed her because they found out. I think it’s more likely she witnessed something at Ricky’s party, but we need to consider all possibilities.”

Sekhmet meowed her encouragement.

Rory added a card with Mindy’s name on it to the column. “There’s also a possibility it’s someone we don’t know about yet, so I’ll add a U N Owen card to the mix. You know, like in that Agatha Christie book I read to you, And Then There Were None.”

Sekhmet watched Rory put down the card and purred her approval.

“Now what should we do?” Rory tapped her finger on the table. “Ricky was killed the night before he was supposed to leave, so why don’t we do a timeline for his last day.” On individual cards, Rory wrote down everything she knew about that day from breakfast with his mother to the party that evening. She arranged them in a column with morning activities at the top.

Once all of the cards were on the table, she studied them. “We don’t know much about the middle of the day. I’m not sure it’s that important, though.”

Sekhmet reached up and placed a paw on one of the index cards. Rory read the single word written on it: party. She scratched the cat behind her ears.

“You’re right. That party is key. We still don’t know when he left it. No one seems to know. Dad said when he left the party was in full swing and Ricky was still there.”

Rory’s gaze swept the rest of the cards, landing on the list of suspects. She picked up Crystal’s card and showed it to the cat. “What do you think? I haven’t asked Crystal about the party yet. She must have been there. We should talk to her. I bet Loretta knows where she’s staying.”

Rory pulled her cell phone out of the pocket of her jeans and made the call, discovering that Crystal had checked into the Akaw hotel. She grabbed her keys and headed downtown.

When she walked through the automatic doors into the lobby of the hotel a short time later, she found a line of people at the reception desk, waiting to check in. While hotel staff in Aloha shirts and Hawaiian-print dresses processed the new arrivals, other employees offered guests glasses filled with pineapple juice while they waited. She was heading toward the house phone when she spotted Crystal sitting by herself in a corner of the lobby near the restaurant, staring off into the distance.

Rory sat down in the padded bamboo chair beside the woman. “Hi, Crystal. Do you have a minute to talk?”

“Talk?” Crystal directed vacant eyes at Rory and blinked several times. Rory wasn’t sure the woman had understood her, but before she could ask the question again, Crystal blurted out, “I did it. I hit Simon’s car.”

Rory stared at her, unsure how to react to the woman’s statement. Sensing that Crystal wanted to talk, Rory simply said, “Tell me about it.”

In fits and starts, Crystal laid out her story. How she’d borrowed her daughter’s car to run an errand and accidentally hit Simon’s car. She’d been so unnerved by what she’d done that she’d sped away from the scene, but now felt so guilty about it that she wanted to confess.

Questions swirled through Rory’s mind. She gathered her thoughts, trying to decide which one to ask first. Finally, she asked, “You weren’t targeting Simon?”

“Heavens, no. I didn’t even realize it was his car that I hit until I read about it on Vista Beach Confidential.” She looked down at her hands. “I was texting and driving. Stupid, I know. I never meant to hurt anyone.”

“You were driving pretty fast.”

“Was I? I always did have a bit of a lead foot. My husband always complains about it.”

“Didn’t Janis notice the damage to her car?”

“I told her I hit a post and gave her the money to fix it. I’m sure she’s taken care of it by now.”

“I thought Janis left for home the previous evening. She wasn’t at the craft fair with you.”

“She dropped me off at the fair and left for home that morning.”

Rory felt there was something off about the story, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on exactly what. “Have you told the police yet?”

“I was just getting up the nerve to walk down there. Would you go with me? I could use the moral support.”

Rory nodded and in silence the two of them walked the few blocks to the police station.

  

“So, let me get this straight. You were texting and driving and hit Simon’s car.” Detective Green sat at his desk in the Vista Beach police station and stared at Crystal who was sitting in one of two nearby chairs. Rory sat in the other.

When they’d arrived at the station, Crystal had insisted the detective hear what she had to say at his desk instead of in the privacy of an interrogation room.

“That’s right.” Crystal sat up straighter and nodded.

“And you weren’t targeting Mr. Zeppelin?”

“Of course not. It was just a stupid accident.”

“What about Swan Anderson? Was that an accident too?”

She looked horrified at the thought. “No! I would never, ever hit a pedestrian.”

Martin sat back in his chair and studied the woman. His steady gaze unnerved Rory who wasn’t even its target. She could imagine the effect it was having on Crystal.

“Why did you decide to confess now?” he finally asked.

“I saw the mention of the partial plate in the news. I didn’t want Janis to be blamed for it, so I decided it was time I came forward. And I couldn’t stand the guilt anymore.” Crystal met his gaze. “What happens now?”

Before he could reply, a commotion in the station lobby captured everyone’s attention.

“Crystal Summers. I need to see Detective Green about her. It’s important,” a woman’s voice said.

Martin motioned for a uniformed officer to come over. After a short conversation, the officer went out to the lobby and returned with Janis.

“Don’t listen to her,” Janis said as soon as she reached the detective’s desk. “She’s lying. She’s trying to protect me.”

Crystal shook her head vehemently. “She’s wrong. I’m the one who hit Simon’s car.”

Mother and daughter started arguing with each other, ignoring everyone around them. Martin watched and listened for a moment before banging his hand on the desk. The loud noise startled the two women into silence. Once he had their attention, he said, “So neither of you are disputing that Janis’s car was the one who hit Simon’s. Is that right?”

They both nodded their heads in agreement.

“If I looked at it now, I’d see the damage?”

“No,” Janis said. “I had it repaired as soon as I got back home.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse. “Here’s the receipt for the work.”

Martin studied it and nodded his head. “Okay, so what’s under dispute is who was driving the car at the time of the accident.” He looked at Rory. “You were there. What do you remember?”

“The car raced around me. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see who was driving. It could have been either one of them.”

He looked at Janis. “Your mother says she was texting while driving and accidentally hit Simon’s car.”

Janis snorted. “No way Mom could drive fast and text at the same time. She’s not a big multi tasker.”

“She doesn’t have a lead foot like she claims?”

She shook her head. “She’s an extremely careful driver, believe me.”

“What’s your version of events?”

Janis took a deep breath before launching into her story. “After I found out Ricky was my real dad, I asked my mom if the Zeppelins had ever given her any money for child support. It seems only right that they should have. When mom said no, I freaked out.”

“Loretta did help me get set up and paid for part of my way through nursing school,” Crystal said a bit defiantly. “I didn’t need anything else from her.”

“That’s not good enough! That family has money. Lots of it. You deserved some of that,” Janis said.

“You told me Loretta sent you checks. Was that true?” Rory said.

“I didn’t cash them, just returned them. She got the idea and stopped sending them.”

“You never told me that.” Janis stared at her mother in disbelief.

“Why would I? You’d only start questioning why Loretta was giving us money.”

Martin cleared his throat. “Let’s get back on track. What did you do after you ‘freaked out’?”

“I went to Simon and asked him for money for my mom. Back child support for all those years. He didn’t believe I was Ricky’s daughter. Said I was making it all up, taking advantage of a woman who was losing her memory. He even said it was preposterous that I was related to him.”

“I guess Loretta never told him,” Rory said.

“He heard about the scene at the craft fair, all right,” Janis said. “Just didn’t believe it. Not even after he talked to his mom and she confirmed it.”

“What did you do after you talked to Simon?” Martin asked.

“He practically threw me out of his store. I was mad. I’d seen him getting out of his car earlier, so I knew what it looked like. When I saw him on my way out of town the next morning, I lost it. I just drove after him and ran into his car. Then I took off, drove back home to San Diego and got my car repaired.”

“I thought you went home the previous day,” Rory looked at Crystal. “Isn’t that what you told my mother?”

“I thought she had. She didn’t stay at the Akaw with me, so I figured she went home. Then I realized it was her car that hit Simon’s.”

“I stayed at a motel that night. I didn’t want to drive home when I was so upset.”

Martin looked at Crystal. “You admit that you weren’t driving the car?”

She sighed. “You know the truth now. It doesn’t make sense to cover up for her anymore.”

“Why did you, Mom?”

“I owed you” was all Crystal said.

Janis’s eyes filled with tears. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“How did you know your mother was going to confess?” Rory asked.

“We talked about the partial plate on the phone. She said I shouldn’t worry about it. After I thought about it for a bit, I realized what she was planning on doing so I drove up here as fast as I could.”

“Did you leave a threatening note for Simon?” Rory directed her question at Janis.

“A note? No.”

When Martin gave her a questioning look, Rory told him about the note Simon said he’d received.

“Do you know when this was?”

She thought back to the conversation in the hotel lobby. “A few days before his accident, I think. You’ll have to ask him for specifics.”

As soon as she realized she was no longer needed, Rory left Martin with the two women and headed home. At least one mystery was solved. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not that Simon’s accident and Ricky’s death no longer seemed to be related.