Chapter Twenty-Six

Danielle was about to step into the front lobby of the Frederickport Police Department when Heather stepped outside. Heather paused and looked at her before stating, “You didn’t mention you were coming down here.”

“Thought I’d stop by and see if there was any news on the murder investigation.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just come down here to find out why they wanted to talk to me again?”

Danielle frowned. “No. Why would I come all the way down here to ask that when you’re living at Marlow House?”

Heather shrugged. “Well, your friend Police Chief MacDonald isn’t here. Or at least, I didn’t see him.”

“I thought that’s who called you.”

“It was. But I spoke to Officer Henderson.” Heather pushed by Danielle. “I’m out of here. Going to grab some breakfast.”

“Bye…” Danielle said lamely, watching Heather make her way to the parking lot. After a moment, Danielle gave her head a little shake and made her way inside the building. After being buzzed in to the inner offices, she came face to face with Joe Morelli.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Danielle,” Joe greeted.

“Morning. Any breaks on the case?” she asked.

“Nothing I can really share at this time. But hopefully, we’ll have something we can tell you.”

“Is the chief here?” she asked.

“The chief won’t be able to tell you any more than me,” Joe told her.

Danielle smiled. “I just wanted to say hi,” she lied.

“I was hoping you might have changed your mind about going out with me tonight.”

“Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the offer, but with everything that’s going on right now, I can’t even think about going out.”

“Morning, Danielle,” Brian greeted, walking to where she stood with Joe.

“Hi, Brian. I see you talked to Heather again this morning.”

“She told you?” Brian asked.

“Earlier, she mentioned the chief asked her to come down, and I just ran into her on her way out. But she didn’t say why you wanted to talk to her again.”

“Just routine,” Brian shrugged. “Rechecking our facts, that’s all.”

Danielle smiled. “I was wondering, is the chief here?”

Brian told her he was in his office at the same time Joe reminded her the chief wouldn’t have anything new to tell her. She smiled at both officers and then politely excused herself and made her way to the chief’s office.

“She does make herself at home around here,” Brian observed dryly.

“I should probably tell her to wait out front while I check with the chief.” Joe started to follow Danielle when Brian reached out and grabbed him by the arm. Joe paused and looked back at the other officer.

“Don’t waste your time, Joe. The chief will see her. You know it. I’ve no idea what’s with those two. If it wasn’t for Carol Ann, I’d swear they’ve got something going on.”

“Oh please, the chief is hardly Danielle’s type,” Joe scoffed.

“You’re right. I imagine Chris Glandon is more her type.”

“This is a surprise,” the chief greeted when Danielle entered his office, closing the door behind her. “We just had your—what is Heather Donovan, your boarder or guest? She was just here.”

“I suppose she qualifies more as a boarder,” Danielle said as she sat down. “I just ran into her outside. She mentioned earlier she was on her way down here. So, anything new?”

The chief glanced down at the stack of papers on his desk and gave them a little shove. “I don’t know. But whenever I turn around, I find someone else connected to Logan Mitcham.”

“You don’t mean Heather?”

“Apparently she hired him to look into Morris and Earthbound Spirits, something about them getting ahold of her Presley property.”

“Are you saying Earthbound Spirits is the new owner?”

“You know about it?”

“I knew she lost it for back taxes. I had no idea Earthbound Spirits was the new owner. She left that part out.”

“Apparently, Earthbound Spirits has picked up a number of properties because of unpaid property tax.”

“According to Heather, she suspected the new owner had done something illegal to get ahold of the property; that’s why she talked about hiring a private detective. But, I didn’t realize she’d hired someone. I sort of had the impression she didn’t have the money.”

“She hired someone all right—Kelly Bartley’s neighbor. Yet according to Heather, Mitcham claimed Morris didn’t do anything illegal. Earthbound Spirits apparently got the property fair and square.”

Danielle leaned back in the chair. “I suppose there is a first time for everything.”

“So why did you stop by? Just to see why we wanted to see Heather?”

Danielle smiled. “Not particularly. Though that’s just what Heather suggested. No, the real reason I want to see you this morning is to tell you something I learned last night. Actually, it’s someone else with a connection to Mitcham.”

“Who?”

Danielle leaned toward the desk. “You know how I told you about Max seeing Arlene go downstairs after Heather went up to her room for the night?”

“Yes. I’ve been hesitant about bringing her back in for more questions. At least, not right now. I suppose I could say someone claimed to have seen her come downstairs, but who? I’m sure everyone has compared notes by now.”

“According to my sources, after stabbing Peter Morris, the killer—a man—stashed the knife in the bathroom. Just as he was leaving the bathroom, he ran into Arlene, who had just come downstairs.”

“She saw the killer?”

“Not only did she see him, she knew him. Knew him enough that he kissed her before he told her to go back upstairs to bed, shortly before he left.”

“You’re saying Arlene Horton was part of the murder?”

Danielle leaned back in her chair and crossed her denim-clad legs. “I’m not sure I’d say she was part of the murder, exactly. According to Lucas, she seemed genuinely surprised to find the man downstairs.”

“Lucas? Your deceased husband?”

“Yeah…” Danielle sighed. “Lucas is still hanging around. He witnessed the murder.”

“What does he say happened?”

Danielle repeated what Lucas had told her. When she was finished, she and MacDonald sat in silence for a few moments, considering the new information.

“We know David has a tie to Peter Morris. He’s a Hilton. The youngest grandchild of Helen Hilton who left her estate to Earthbound Spirits.”

“And one of the grandchildren involved in the lawsuit against the cult,” Danielle added.

“Hilton has the motive…” the chief muttered.

“There is obviously a tie between Arlene and Mitcham. But if there is something romantic between those two, why is she sharing a bed with David?”

The chief smiled. “Sounds interesting. How long are they staying? I’m a little concerned about them still being with you. It may not be safe, but until I can find something—other than testimony from a ghost or cat…”

“Don’t worry about our safety. Walt promised to keep an eye on both of them. But, I have this gut feeling that they aren’t killers.”

“Maybe not, but Mitcham is still missing, and it was his fingerprint we found at your house.”

“Have you talked to Will yet?” Danielle asked.

“Yes. Which now, considering what Heather told me, makes me even more confused about the players in all this.” The chief leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How do you mean?”

“According to Wayne, Mitcham found evidence Isabella was murdered, which I know is false.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I looked into it again and had someone else review the medical records, and there is no doubt Isabella died of natural causes. Yet according to Wayne, Mitcham offered to hook him up with a hit man—to kill Morris. Because, according to Mitcham, Morris was so well connected he’d get away with the murder.”

“You aren’t suggesting Will hired Mitcham to kill Morris, are you?”

“No. According to Wayne, he was more interested in finding out who in the coroner’s office was involved in the cover up, but he backed away from Mitcham after the offer. Plus, the PI never handed over any of the information he claimed to have uncovered. So basically, he expected Wayne to simply take his word on it.”

“Why would Mitcham lie about something like that?” Danielle asked.

“I just hope your friend didn’t hire Mitcham to kill Morris and just told me all that to throw me off, in case Mitcham screwed up—which he did—and left a clue that would lead us to him.”

Danielle shook her head, “I just can’t believe Will would hire a hit man.”

“You don’t have kids, Danielle.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“If someone hurt one of my boys like that—I honestly don’t know what I’d do. In fact, I don’t even like to think about it.”

“No…Will Wayne is a good man.”

“I’d like to think I’m a good man too. But when it comes to someone hurting one of my kids—well, anything is possible. It’s not as if Peter Morris was a particularly likable man. He had a history of bilking vulnerable people out of money, and if Wayne honestly believed he had Isabella killed, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“So why haven’t you arrested him yet?”

“Aside from the fact I keep tripping over other people connected to Mitcham who also have motives, I think it would be premature. I really don’t want to repeat your cousin’s murder investigation.”

Danielle knew what he was talking about. Several people, including herself, were arrested for Cheryl’s murder before the real killer was arrested.

Danielle listed off the current suspects. “So far, there is Heather, Arlene—David, if you consider his connection to Mitcham through Arlene and his history with Earthbound Spirits—and then there’s Will.”

“You forget Kelly.”

“Kelly? Sure, she’s his neighbor, but she didn’t have a reason to kill Morris.”

“Sure she did.”

“What are you talking about?” Danielle asked.

“What’s our agreement, Danielle?” the chief asked.

Danielle let out a sigh, “What you tell me in confidence about an ongoing case can not go any farther than you and me, unless you give me permission to tell someone like Lily or Walt. And I’ll be your spiritual informer.”

“Spiritual informer?” The chief smiled.

“Or is it spiritual snitch?” she asked.

“Okay…whatever…but for now, you need to keep this between us. If Kelly happens to tell you herself, pretend like it’s the first time you’ve heard it.”

Danielle frowned. “Heard what?”

“Kelly believes Peter Morris was responsible for her roommate’s suicide. Not much different from Cleve’s suicide, yet it this case, it was primarily about money.”

“Money?”

“The young woman had an inheritance from her grandmother. She was troubled. Morris convinced her to move on to paradise—and oh, by the way, leave me your money so I can continue to help other girls like you.”

“Damn…” Danielle shook her head in disgust. “We should be giving Logan Mitcham a medal, instead of finding him so we can throw him in prison.”

“I know how you feel, believe me.”

“So now what?” Danielle asked.

“Now I’d like to learn more about the connection between Mitcham and Arlene. I’d also like to figure out how Hilton plays into all this.”

“It’s interesting how all roads seem to lead back to Mitcham. But how did all these people happen to hire the same private detective? What are the odds of that?”