Crowning the Slug Queen (A Callie Stone Mystery Book 1) (10 page)

The main room was large with one wall almost fully glass and overlooking the garden. There was a child size table with two matching chairs and an area strewn with pillows obviously meant for play or naps. Across from the glass wall was a set of bookshelves reaching from floor to ceiling and filled with books and toys. There was a door open leading into a bedroom on the left. In the center of the room sat a dark haired Hispanic woman Callie assumed was Consuela reading to two wide eyed red haired twin girls. Callie couldn't tell them apart. She could see bits of Scott in the way their gray blue eyes regarded her solemnly.

"Callie, meet Bella and Jolie." Dutifully Callie knelt down and said hello to the both of them. They just stared back. The girl on the right, Bella, turned away and hid her face in Consuela's shirt. "They're a bit shy with strangers," said Audrey.

Callie couldn't tell if the little girl was hiding from her or hiding from Audrey. "And you must be Consuela," said Callie. "Do you spend your whole day with these lovely ladies?"

"Yes, miss. I mean, that is, when Audrey can't watch them." Callie thought it was possible Consuela spent much more time with the girls than their mother did. "I do other work around the house and can't be with them all of the time." She had a faint Spanish accent when she spoke.

Callie stood up and smiled at Audrey. "They are lovely. You've definitely done much better than I have in the kid department."

Audrey laughed a bit smugly. "Yes, they've turned out pretty well, haven't they? You'll get your chance one of these days."

Callie thought of her long term, yet failed relationship with Peter and doubted that. They returned to the kitchen. Audrey took a deep fried scallop. "Man, these taste good. I don't think I've had them in years. So, tell me stories of the big city," she said as they sat down again.

Audrey changed her iced tea glass for a wine glass, but Callie shook her head and just stuck with tea. For the first time she actually told the full story of being fired. Audrey went and got her laptop and played the video of The Great Humming Incident.

Callie was surprised in that she didn't find the video painful, but actually pretty funny. "Look, you can see it on my face. Here's the exact moment I realized no one would be starting the song."

Audrey chuckled. "And look at this guy." She was pointing at Callie's boss, Bill. "Here's where he realizes something isn't going his way." Callie could see his color begin to rise immediately after the pastor began humming and more cell phones in the audience began to tape the incident.

Callie sighed. "Poor Bill. He's got such high hopes for the organization. It really galled him we had more hits on this one incident than we've had in our entirety. I guess a smarter person would have found some way to leverage that into a positive."

Audrey said, "Apparently, they fired the only person who thought like that." Callie realized Audrey was right. She had been the driving force behind new moves in technology or new media ideas for the last few years. Even if her job title had been event planning, that encompassed a large amount of marketing and understanding how an event could brand a company. Without her, she wondered how they were moving forward.

The fish was eaten and Audrey cleaned up the paper trays and poured herself another glass of wine, her hands shaking a bit. Callie checked her watch. "It's been really great seeing you again, but I've got to go. I've been volunteering with Skinner Days and we're having a meeting downtown."

Audrey hugged her. "It was good to see you, too. Feel free to come by with fish and chips anytime."

Callie laughed. "Maybe next time us single women can meet at a more adult establishment and hit the town. Remember how we wanted to do that in the old days? We were too young though."

Audrey gave a strained smile. "And now we're old women, right?"

Callie hugged her again. "Never."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Callie drove down the hill from where Audrey's house was and back onto Seventh Street to the Newsome Center. In the same meeting room as before, she found Jeremy and Jorna Vitale-Cone already there.

"It's good to see you, Callie. I wasn't sure you'd want to keep working on this after what happened to Molluska," said Jeremy giving her a quick hug, his brown eyes looking serious.

"Actually I came to the meeting to see what you were deciding to do. I mean, I wasn't sure if you'd even continue with the pageant."

Jorna sniffed. "Skinner Days are a tradition I think someone like Molluska embraced. It wouldn't honor her memory to let her death stop the celebration."

Callie, her back to Jorna and facing Jeremy, raised her eyebrows at that and Jeremy just gave a small shrug.

Dot Felson walked in followed by Marty, whose wig hadn't gotten any better over the past day, and Kathleen Teigen, whose bouncy walk reminded Callie of a puppy. Today Dot was wearing what Callie would swear were a pair of Stuart Weitzman's and definitely not available at the local Macy's. Apparently, she had a shoe fetish that surpassed Callie's own.

"Oh, my. Oh, my. Callie, what happened at the pageant?" asked Kathleen. All eyes turned on Callie as she took a seat at the small conference table.

"I don't know. I mean, of course I know one of the contestants is dead, but I really don't know anything about what happened. I've also been asked by the police not to discuss it in any great detail."

Dot Felson looked at her sharply. "Is there anything you can tell us?"

"Not much you can't tell us yourself," said Callie.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Dot heatedly.

"Nothing in particular," said Callie, surprised at Dot's vehemence. "Mostly that you were present almost the entire time I was there and saw almost everything I saw. Where did you go after the end of the talent competition?"

Dot looked coldly at her. "Steven and I are sharing a car, so I was parked back at City Hall. I wanted to pick up Steven after the practice was over, so I walked back there to get it. Then I was delayed when I ran into one of the council members and Steven ended up coming over to City Hall himself."

Callie wondered if Dot realized she had just left Steven without a verifiable alibi for the time the murder would most likely have taken place. "Well, after the end of the practice I sat and ran through my notes for a few minutes and then chatted with one of the other contestants," said Callie.

"Who was that?" asked Jorna.

Callie didn't see any reason not to say. "Sheldon Normal stopped by to ask about his community service hours. After that, I went looking for the stage manager to say good bye and found Molluska's body."

"How long did he stay?" asked Dot.

"I'm not really sure," said Callie. "I'm assuming he was gone by the time I started looking for Wade."

"Do you know what killed her? The TV news didn't give any details," said Jeremy. "I mean, it wasn't anything catching or anything that would be unsafe for others to be around, right?"

Callie shook her head. "I don't know the true cause, but it didn't look to me like it was accidental or something that was a natural cause. I don't think I can say more than that. It didn't seem to me like it was something that would endanger others."

Jeremy looked relieved. "So, what does everyone think? Do we continue on with Skinner Days and the pageant or do we cancel the event?"

The room was silent. Jorna spoke up. "You all know what I think. Unless something else happens, we should move forward as planned. We've spent about 70% of the total budget on our marketing and equipment rental fees. Those are sunk costs--whether the show goes on or not, that money is gone. The only real costs we have left to pay for are the day of costs such as security and set up. I know it's not all about money, but I just want you to be aware of what we have to lose. Plus the fact we'll have no entry fees to offset all the money already spent. It will be a total loss."

Marty nodded. "I agree with you Jorna. Maybe we can add a short memorial to our lost contestant as part of the pageant."

Kathleen wriggled in her chair. "Callie, do you think you could come up with something to add to the pageant?"

"Sure, I could do that," said Callie. Maybe she could ask Steven Felson for some more information about what type of person Alexandra Herrman was. Creating a memorial would also give her a reason to check out the neighborhood where Alex had lived.

Dot looked around and said, "Then we're agreed. Skinner Days and the Slug Queen Pageant will both go forward as planned with the addition of a memorial to Molluska."

Callie wondered if any of the committee members actually knew Molluska's real name or that she was a woman. "Ok, so we will have our next practice tomorrow. Who's going to be the emcee for the pageant? It would be great if we could get them there for our run through."

"Our emcee this year is Kit Carter from KVAL news. He's the weatherman," said Jeremy. "l'll contact him and see if he can make it."

Like the mayor, Callie didn't see the point in driving the few blocks to the building that housed both City Hall and the police station. She walked, enjoying the sunny August day that was featuring the weather Callie loved the most about Skinner. Sometimes during the winter or spring, there seemed to be an endless line of repetitive gray days, some with rain, some without. But they were all worth it on the days where the sky was filled with white puffy clouds on a background of endless blue. She passed the mayor's community garden and waved at Jacob, still occupying his corner.

The City Hall building was not a building one thought about as lovingly as blue sky days, thought Callie. While it might have seemed rather modernist at the time it was constructed, now it seemed to resemble a WWII bunker with gray cement columns blockily broken up by narrow windows Callie didn't think let much light into the building. She walked up the broad stairs and reported to the police sergeant behind a glass partition.

"I'm not sure who I'm to ask for, but I need to give my fingerprints to someone," said Callie.

"Who's told you that?" asked the desk sergeant. He was a rather stocky young man with dark hair.

"Oh, of course. Scooter, I mean, Detective Scott McMillan, asked me to stop by," said Callie.

The desk sergeant pointed to some chair whose dark salmon plastic also seemed to spring from the 1960's. "I'll let the fingerprint folks know you're here."

To Callie's surprise, it was Scott himself who came out of the security doors at the end of the hallway. "Callie? Can you please come with me?"

Callie walked through the doors which closed with an ominous metallic clang. Scott was wearing the same shirt and slacks she had seen him in this morning, but he had his jacket on and now looked much more formal. His black hair looked as if he had been running his hand through it all day.

"We've looked at the piece of glass you found backstage and I'm not sure we're going to be able to get any useful prints off of it. It's pretty small and the spiral design of the glass doesn't really allow for a full set of prints," he said.

"Has Wade come by?" she asked.

"Yes, he was here an hour or so ago."

"I'm sorry I missed him. They've decided to go forward with Skinner Days as is," she said. "I would have liked to talk with him about it. We never got the chance to chat about how we're going to take the pageant from indoors to outdoors. I guess I'll see him at practice tomorrow."

"I didn't think this would stop Skinner Days. It's gotten to be bigger than just one or two people. I'm sure a lot of money and effort has already gone into it."

He led her to a small room where there was a machine that looked like a copy machine to Callie. "Sgt. Stanton, can you get Miss Stone's fingerprints?" The technician turned the machine on. Having Callie stand behind it, he rolled each one of her fingers over the plate on the top of the machine. Callie laughed nervously. "I don't know--I guess I expected an ink pad and one of those cards. This seems like a much better system."

Scott nodded. "It is. The prints get automatically logged which saves us a step and there's no way we can smear a print with too much ink or get an unclear reading with too little."

The fingerprinting was over in a few seconds. Callie smiled at Scott, unsure what to say. "Is there a place we can chat for a few minutes? I mean, I know you're busy, but I have one or two things to tell you."

Scott took her out of the room and down the hallway to a small office. There was room for a table in the middle with one chair on each side. "Very cozy," said Callie, sliding into the far chair. It was of the same '60's vintage as the dull pink chairs out in the front lobby.

The confines of the room sat them face to face making Callie feel claustrophobic. "Yes, our interrogation rooms can lack a little ambiance. Still, it gives me more privacy than I'd get in the investigation room with all the other officers about.”

“Do you know what killed Molluska yet?” asked Callie.

"It looks as if she died of a meth overdose. I'm guessing she was taking a hit with the coffee, but the dose was too strong."

"But wouldn't she realize that and get help? That's not instantaneous, right?" Callie asked.

"That's where the bump on the back of the head comes in. After she drank the coffee, someone knocked her out, then the meth went into action and it gave her a heart attack. That’s really all I can say about it at this time. What did you want to talk to me about?”

"I ran into Steven Felson this morning."

"Oh? And where did you do that?" he asked somewhat suspiciously. Callie knew she had to tread carefully here as he had already warned her not to meddle in the investigation.

"I was at the library. I was thinking of getting a temporary library card while I'm here in town."

He nodded slowly, looking her in the eyes the whole time. "Good. That's just plausible enough that I might buy it." He leaned back in his chair. The increased distance between them was a relief to Callie. "What did Steven have to say that might interest me?"

"I get the feeling you were already aware Alex Herrman was actually Alexandra Herrman?"

"Yes," he said. "I was aware of the fact." Callie noted to herself that he didn't apologize for not letting her know about it.

"Well," she said, hurrying on, "were you aware that Steven and Alex were an item? That they'd been dating for several months?"

"And he told you that? We spoke with him for over an hour last night and he never mentioned it."

"I think he was still in a state of shock last night. This morning, he seemed, I don't know, almost resigned to people finding out. He said he had only entered the Slug Queen pageant because Alex had wanted him to. He said he didn't think Dot had known, but I'm not so sure," said Callie.

Scott regarded her solemnly. "Now we're getting to those areas of the conversation that smack of investigation. I'm going to ask you why you think that, but don't take that as encouragement on my part. There's a murderer out there and I don't need any civilians thinking they're Nancy Drew."

"It's nothing concrete, more like intuition. I mean, why did Dot come to the practice? It seemed to me from her body language she wasn't happy with Molluska's talent performance. And Dot herself admitted she didn't know why Steven had entered the competition. Her reactions just have a wrong feel to them. And her shoes are all wrong."

"Her shoes?" He shook his head at this abrupt change of topic. "Wrong? How so?"

"She's the mayor of Skinner. She's known for being environmentally astute and yet she's wearing shoes that cost her more than a week's pay and scream elitism. It's just out of pattern with what she's supposed to be."

Scott let silence fall for a few seconds. "And that's it? Poor reactions and expensive shoes?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well, I'll take those thoughts into consideration. Was there anything else you wanted to speak about today?" he asked. Callie could already see him moving on mentally to whatever was his next project and he started to get up. She almost didn't speak, especially as this was even less substantiated intuition.

"Yes. It's about Audrey."

He stopped and sat back down. "What about her?"

"I had lunch with her today at her house. Don't worry, I didn't mention anything about you."

"How did the girls look?" There was an almost hungry look on his face and Callie wondered how often he got to see them. Probably not often enough.

"They look fine. You have a couple of beautiful kids there."

He nodded, indicating to her that she should go on. "It's Audrey. I don't pretend to have a vast experience with drug use, but I think she could be using the same things Molluska was using. Again, it's just intuition and maybe I'm wrong. It just seemed too important of a thought not to let you know."

He didn't say anything for so long that Callie wondered if she had insulted him beyond recall by suggesting his ex-wife was a drug user, but finally he looked up. "Maybe your intuition is better than I give it credit for. I know she's been using and I've been trying to find out who her dealer is for a couple of months now."