Chapter Eight

The amount of electronics in Parker’s security room rivaled anything I had ever seen on television.

He pulled up a chair for me next to him and began clacking away on his keyboard while instructing me to watch the first monitor on the wall.

“Here’s where the man and woman enter the bar.”

I noted the date and time in my notebook before writing a few words describing the man. I could add more details later.

“You don’t have to do all that writing,” he said. “Just say the word, and I’ll put a screenshot on a flash drive for you. He went back a few frames and tapped a key on his keyboard. The faces of both the man and woman were clear in the shot. “See, I put this frame on the drive, and it’s already timestamped for you.”

I suppose there wasn’t anything remarkable about the security equipment, but I was fascinated and wished there was some reason for me to have equipment this cool at Glenn’s house.

Parker began rewinding the tape. “My place wasn’t their only stop that day.”

He instructed me to watch the second monitor. It was a different view from another camera outside the bar. It focused down the street toward the laundromat and Walt’s building. “Watch the corner at the end of the block.”

It was a little hard to see at first, but the man and woman came around the corner and walked toward the bar. When they reached Walt’s building, they went inside.

“That’s the bookstore, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yep.”

He had already put a few screen shots onto the flash drive and hit the key again to capture the frame indicating the time the couple went into the store. He then fast-forwarded the tape and did the same when they came out. From there, they walked directly to Parker’s and entered the bar.”

“Too bad they parked around the corner,” I said. “Maybe we could have picked up the license plate if they had parked closer.”

He reached over to a stack of papers on his desk, grabbed the top paper, and handed it to me. It was a copy of an order receipt. The name and signature on it was Tabitha Abbott. “I went back through receipts for that night. The broad paid with a credit card.”

I only slightly bristled at his use of the term broad. He and Arnie were of the same ilk, and it wasn’t uncommon for either of them to use politically incorrect slang, although I had noticed Arnie had toned it down now that his niece Nancy was working with us in the office.

“Awesome,” I said. “Tabitha isn’t a common name, so I should be able to track her down.”

He reached over to the stack and handed another copy to me. This one was a close-up photo of a license plate on a white car.

“You should be able to find her pretty easy with this,” he said.

“When did you find this?”

He cued up another day of taping and pointed to the second monitor again. It was the day of Meredith’s murder. We watched as the white convertible drove past Parker’s and pulled up in front of the laundromat. It was close enough for Parker to zoom in and see a clear image of the license plate. Even though he had just handed a printed copy of the plate to me, he hit the key on the keyboard to add the shot to the flash drive.

He zoomed out, and we watched the woman enter the bookstore. He then fast forwarded to when she came out. Once again, I thought she appeared calm and collected. She didn’t rush to her car. If she heard or witnessed a murder, she didn’t have any reaction to it. On the other hand, if she committed the murder, maybe she was deliberately exhibiting a calm exterior as she left the store. Parker stopped the tape when the woman drove away.

“Is that everything you need?” he asked.

“Did you check to see if anyone went into the bookstore before this woman?”

He nodded. “Sure did. She was the first customer of the day. I assume the employees go in through the back, because no one entered from the front until this woman showed up.”

I appreciated how thorough he had been. “Do you mind if I watch some of the footage after she left?”

He set the tape to play again, showed me which keys to push to adjust the speed for forward and rewind, and then sat back with his arms folded across his chest. I had a feeling it was his usual position when he watched the tapes for any length of time.

I fast forwarded a few minutes and saw myself come into the left side of the frame as I waited to cross the street with the box of books in my arms. The bobbing of my head looked absurd at the faster frame rate. I glanced at Parker and saw a big smile on his face.

“It was a little hard to wave with my arms full,” I said defensively.

He continued to smile. “I didn’t say a word.”

I resumed watching at a faster than normal speed and saw Bubba go into the bookstore and come out. He walked toward Parker’s until he disappeared. I saw myself walk out onto the sidewalk, Officer Winnie showed up with the ambulance, and the black Escalade drove past. I paused the tape.

“Can you get a close-up of the license plate on the black vehicle? I don’t know if we need it, but I want to show it to Arnie.”

Parker worked his clickety-clack magic on the keyboard and zoomed in to get a clear shot of the plate.

I began watching again and saw the vehicle go down the street and out of view. A minute later, it came back up the street. I hadn’t originally seen the car pass the bookstore a second time. The driver slowed as he approached Parker’s but was soon out of view of the camera.

“Are we able to see another angle of the Escalade after it passed here?” I asked.

His fingers flew across the keyboard again. It didn’t take long, and he pointed to the third monitor on the wall.

The Escalade came into view and stopped just past Parker’s. The driver didn’t step out to put money in the meter. The mayor came out from his office across the street and glanced both ways before jogging across and hopping into the passenger side of the vehicle.

“Wowzers,” I said under my breath. “I need this for sure. I need pictures of the mayor getting into that car.”

He did some rewinding and captured a half dozen shots of the mayor’s interaction with the vehicle. The entire encounter lasted only a minute.

“Now I have everything I need,” I said.

Parker ejected the flash drive from his computer and handed it to me.

“What’s up with the mayor and that car?” he asked.

“I can’t say, and I’d really appreciate it if you’d keep it under your hat that I even asked for the pictures.” He nodded his head, and I knew I could trust him. Arnie had always considered Parker a valuable source and confidant. “Off the record,” I said. “What do you think of the mayor?”

“I try to think of him as little as possible, and I’m getting tired of hearing everyone talk about him. He’s made himself the center of attention all over town.”

“Do you get along with him?”

He laughed. “Bubba doesn’t come in anymore. I didn’t mind giving him a free meal a few times when he was first elected, but when that fathead thought I should comp his food and booze every time he came in, I told him to get lost. He blew a fuse, and I had Hank escort him out in front of the patrons. I’ve been watching my back ever since, but I think he’s just a blowhard.”

I stood to leave. “Send a bill to us for your time. I know Arnie will approve the expense.”

“Naw. I’m glad all this equipment was put to good use.”

I thanked him and encouraged him to reconsider sending a bill. When I walked back into our offices, Arnie was gone.

“Where’d he go now?” I asked Nancy.

“Cleveland. He drove up to the FBI offices for the day.”

“Do you know why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t have a clue. He didn’t say if it was about the laundromat surveillance or something else. He only said he wouldn’t be back today.”

“Do you know if Agent Roberts is still in town?”

She shook her head again.

I went into my office and downloaded the pictures onto my computer. I printed the license plate of the Escalade and took it, along with the picture of the plate on the white convertible, to Nancy. A few minutes later, she dropped the names and addresses for both on my desk.

The man in the Escalade was Geoff Marina. I wasn’t interested in tracking him down. I’d wait for Arnie to see how he wanted to handle his information, but I was interested in talking with Tabitha Abbott as soon as possible. Her address was in Patterson.

I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. Nancy looked up from her paperwork.

“I’m running across the street to talk with Peggy, and then I’m headed over to Patterson. I won’t be back today. If Arnie calls, go ahead and give him the information on the Escalade.”

There was more honking as I waited to cross the street, but at least I had an arm to throw up in the air today. I never really understood all of this honking to say hello to people. I never honked at anyone. Mama was always on her horn, and Pepper was just as bad. When you knew almost everyone in town, it was inevitable you would see them in your travels throughout the day. You could be friendly without making so much noise.

Officer Collins sped by on his bicycle. I threw my arm up and flashed a big smile his way. He ignored me.

I jogged across the street and down to the bookstore. I couldn’t help glancing through the window of the laundromat as I went by and saw Bubba leaning against the open space in the wall. I sped up before he spotted me.

The closed sign was still on the front door of the bookstore. There wasn’t any information indicating when it would reopen.

The odor wafting from Crump and Crumpets was irresistible and pulled me in next door.

“G’morning, Jo,” Walt called out as the bell above the door tinkled.

“Hi, Walt. I’ll have a cup of coffee and a crumpet.”

I hadn’t yet tasted a crumpet, and as it was one of Walt’s signature items, I thought I’d give one a test drive.

“You do know they’re not sweet right? They’re like an English muffin only lighter. You can put a little jam or honey on one, or you can eat it with syrup. I don’t make clotted cream here. Still want one?” He smiled as if he already knew the answer.

Clotted cream sounded disgusting. I wouldn’t make it here either. “A blueberry muffin will be great,” I said.

The bell tinkled.

“I was hoping you might have stopped in here,” the mayor said, smiling his creepy smile at me. “Good morning, Walt. I’ll have a maple creamstick and a cuppa joe.”

I paid Walt, shoved the bag with the muffin into my satchel, and sipped my coffee. I made no effort to be polite to the mayor. “What do you want?”

“Did you ask Keith about the book?”

His question took me by surprise. I forgot that I told him I would ask Keith if he found a Treasure Island book in the boxes from the book sale. My poker face wasn’t in place, and I knew I radiated that I was lying when I said, “Uh. Uhm. No. He didn’t find anything.”

The mayor squinted his eyes and cocked his head slightly. A second later, a smile crossed his face. “Well, in that case, I’ll keep looking.”

I turned from the mayor and asked Walt, “Do you know when Peggy will be back?”

“Can’t say that I do. She stopped in to say she was going to stay with her mother in Florida for a while.”

I was surprised to hear she had left town so quickly and wouldn’t be here for Meredith’s funeral.

“She won’t be back,” the mayor said. “After Meredith tried to take her shop from her, and then she died, Peggy was close to having a breakdown. It will be a long time before she comes back to Buxley.”

“What do you mean Meredith tried to take her shop?” I asked.

He looked surprised. “You didn’t know? I thought everyone knew.”

I looked at Walt. He shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t have a clue what the mayor was talking about.

“After Meredith put all that money into the store, she demanded Peggy pay her back with interest or sign the business over to her. She was only giving her thirty days before taking legal action.”

“Meredith made a lot of changes in there, but I didn’t know she was so ruthless,” Walt said.

The mayor threw his head back and laughed loudly. “She was one mean woman. Peggy was terrified of her.”

I was stunned to hear this. I’d seen Meredith’s unpleasant side at the book sale, but Peggy had talked so kindly about her. And why did Meredith want to hire me if she was the one threatening Peggy?

Something was off here, but I didn’t want to discuss it with Bubba. I opted to try to get a rise out of him instead. “Walt, what do you know about the Confederate gold that’s buried around here? I guess we’ve hit the forty-year mark when everyone starts looking for it again. The town will be crawling with gold hunters soon.”

I took a brief glance at the mayor and saw his eyes widen. Maybe he thought he was the only one looking for the gold.

Walt laughed. “I remember when I was a kid, the town held a gold-hunting event. Anyone who hadn’t already dug holes in their basement dug them, and the town permitted digging in the parks and on city land. Farmers let people dig in their fields and everyone went nuts. My dad came home with blisters so bad, his hands bled.”

The mayor hung on his every word. “Did anyone find anything?”

“Of course not,” Walt said. “It’s called a legend for a reason, and it’s gotten bigger over the years. My granddaddy used to say the original story was that only three gold coins were stolen by Randolph Buxley, but the legend grew to more than a million dollars worth of gold.” He shook his head and smiled.

“I heard the gold was found and moved,” Bubba said. “I heard it from someone who knew.”

Walt made a phooey noise. “Believe what you want. You’ll only go crazy if you chase that pipe dream.” He handed the mayor his coffee and creamstick. “That’ll be four dollars.”

Bubba dug through his pockets, and came up empty. “Put it on my tab, and I’ll catch up with you next payday.”

Walt frowned. I knew there was no tab. The mayor simply wasn’t paying.

“I’ve got it, Walt,” I said and pulled the money from my bag.

The mayor beamed. “Why, thank you, Jo. That’s right nice of you.”

I ignored him and hoofed it back to our parking lot and my truck. The mayor’s news about Peggy and Meredith cast a completely different light on Meredith’s murder. Peggy could have been so upset about Meredith’s hostile takeover of her store, she could have easily gone in through the back door and murdered her. The fact that she left town so quickly made her look guilty as heck.

I sat in my truck and called Jackie.

“Ryder. Buxley Beacon.”

“It’s me. What are you doing? Can you run over to Patterson with me?”

“No. I’m swimming in crap here. If someone doesn’t kill the mayor pretty soon, I’m going to do it myself.”

I couldn’t help smiling at her frustration. Jackie usually held it together really well, and she was the consummate professional, but Bubba had her twisted in knots these days.

“What’d he do now?”

“He’s presenting a proposal at the next council meeting to use eminent domain to claim any property within the city limits with a building that hasn’t been occupied for a year or more. He says the buildings pose health risks to the community, and children could break in and get hurt on the premises. If something like that passed, a third of the buildings in the industrial park would be confiscated by the city, and some of them are only a few years old. I’ve interviewed the council members and they’re all considering voting with him. Has everyone around here gone mad?”

“Yes. Yes, they have. Take a break from the madness and come with me to Patterson. I want to talk to the woman in the white convertible. I have her name and address now. She might know something about Meredith’s death.”

“The case is settled, Jo. Her death has been ruled an accident, and you’ll never get Sergeant Rorski to think otherwise.”

“I have proof she was murdered, and I have two suspects. Leave the mayor and the council alone and come with me. I’ll fill you in on the way.”

She was quiet for a few moments. Eventually, she said, “I can’t get away today. I have a deadline to meet, and I can’t pass this off on Nick. He’s pulling his hair out over the police on bicycles. They recovered the two stolen bikes, but there’s a mutiny brewing within the department. Can you wait and go tomorrow?”

I didn’t know what to expect at Tabitha’s house, and I wanted Jackie with me. I was going to have to wait whether I wanted to or not.

“Tomorrow will work,” I said. “How about if I pick you up at the paper at ten?”

“Ten is fine, but I’m driving. I can’t lose that much time if you drive. I’ll pick you up at your place.”

I couldn’t help smiling when our call ended. Jackie drove like a wild woman. We’d get to Patterson and back in half the time with her driving.

I called Pepper.

“Thanks for the mess you left for me this morning,” she said in lieu of a greeting.

“You’re welcome,” I said cheerfully. “Just be glad we finished the baking and the decorating. How are you feeling?”

“Terrible. My head hurts. I’d have a little of the dog that got in my drink, but we’re leaving soon.”

“It’s the hair of the dog that bit you. A dog didn’t get in your drink.”

“Whatever. Buck’s in West Virginia waiting for a load. He wants us to come down and spend the day with him, and we’ll probably stay overnight. There’s a book sale in a local church the next morning.”

“Jackie and I are going to Patterson tomorrow to talk with the woman in the white convertible. I was going to ask you to come along.”

I could hear disappointment in her voice. “I’d love to meet her, but I can’t go. Could you go Friday?”

“I don’t want to wait any longer. I wanted to talk with her today, but Jackie can’t get away until tomorrow. Go and have fun with Buck and the kids. I’ll fill you in when you get home, and if we get in her house, I’ll make a trip to the bathroom, so I can look in her medicine chest for you.”

She laughed and hung up.

It was still early. I could get out of the truck and go into the office, but the thought of spending the rest of the day doing paperwork sent pain waves through my brain.

My thoughts went back to Meredith. I punched Jackie’s speed dial number again.

Before she could identify herself, I asked, “Do you know if Meredith Duncan was married, and do you have her home address in any of your paperwork?”

I heard her phone bang on the desk and the sound of papers being shuffled. She finally said, “Address - 802 North Wilkins. One husband - Gus. No children.”

“Thanks,” I said and disconnected.

It seemed appropriate to pay a visit to Gus Duncan and offer my condolences.