Read Crowning the Slug Queen (A Callie Stone Mystery Book 1) Online
Authors: L.M. Fortin
Callie shook her head. "Scott, it's a message. Otherwise why did she change the font color to white? What was there to hide in this message?" she said, half to herself.
Scott shook his head. "Maybe it was only that she got interrupted before she could finish. I'm sorry I think this is one of your intuitions that didn't pan out. Although figuring out the white font thing was pretty impressive." She could tell from his tone that the conversation was over. "Besides, I think you need to get home and relax for a bit. I'm still not certain I shouldn't take you to the EMT's..." he said.
"I'm fi..." she started to say fine, but was interrupted with a bout of coughing. "Ok, ok, I'll go home."
They walked the few blocks back to her car. Opening the door for her he said, "Call me tomorrow and let me know you're ok? I'll be in court, so I can't call back, but I'll get the message."
She nodded as he closed the door.
She got home and started walking up the driveway. Coral came running out, "Carline, are you ok? Scooter called and said you'd been in some sort of accident."
While Callie was irritated Scott was acting like a mother hen, at least he hadn't mentioned there was the possibility it was attempted murder. "No, I'm fine," she said coughing. "It was just a little problem with a faulty heater."
"Go to the cottage and lay down," said her mom. "I'll brew you some lemon honey tea and bring it over."
Callie dutifully drank the tea and was surprised when her throat felt better. Then she lay down and slept.
Callie woke Thursday morning to the sound of rain on the roof of the cottage. Wrapping her quilt around her, she stumbled to the window and pushed aside the curtain. Often, Oregon rain came down as a semi consistent mist, only occasionally turning into actual raindrops. This was a steady rain and looked as if it would go on all day. She wondered if it would affect the stage set up on Friday.
She went to the couch and turned on her computer to check the weather report. It seemed to indicate that not only was the rain not going to depart by Friday or Saturday, but it might actually get worse. She remembered the Skinner Days committee's dismissive attitude to her suggestion they might need a rain plan. She guessed it was a good thing that even with their reaction, she had continued to think of such a plan anyway. She grabbed her cell phone and called Wade. They spoke for a few minutes and as he agreed with her assessment of the weather, he told her he'd start to work on her rain plan.
Callie saw there was a voicemail from her boss, Bill. Former boss. It must have come through while she was in the theater and had no reception. Although she wasn't sure she would have answered it anyway. She played the message.
"Callie, it's Bill Batson. I know you probably don't want to hear from me right now, but the rest of the staff is threatening mutiny if I don't bring you back." Callie wondered if that was his version of an apology. "I may have been a little hasty at the conference and all I can say is that it was a really stressful day and I may not have acted in the best interests of the organization. Can you give me a call so we can talk about it?"
He sounded irritated, which was a normal state for Bill, so that didn't bother her. It had to be galling for him to call and suggest rehiring her as he hated being wrong and hated apologizing even more.
She stood for a moment, looking down at the cell phone clenched in her hand. Is this what she wanted?
As she put the phone down, there was a knock on the door and her mother stuck her head in. "Carline, are you up?'
"Yes, just barely," she said wrapping the quilt closer around her.
"Well, you have a visitor in the kitchen. It's Sheldon Normal."
"Can you give him some coffee or something? I'll be right there." Callie threw on her Levi's and a green t-shirt and ran through the rain to the main house.
Grandma Minnie was finishing up a story and Sheldon was laughing. Callie almost didn't recognize him as he had on a blue polo shirt and jeans. His long coal black hair looked damp and was tied back with a leather thong.
Coral grabbed Grandma and said, "We'll leave you two to chat."
Callie took a mug from the cupboard and poured a cup of hot water, adding instant coffee as that's all that was available. She'd have to buy a coffee maker for the kitchen if she was going to stay any length of time. "What's up? You aren't backing out of the show are you?"
"No, I don't get my community service hours unless I finish the pageant. If I win, I'll be able to get even more hours visiting children's homes and senior centers. I'm in it for the long haul. I came to see you about what you were asking the other day."
"About Molluska? I honestly didn't mean it as an accusation. I mean, I was in the building later than you, so if there's anyone to be suspicious of, it would be me."
He shook his head. "I'm sorry I got upset, but although I may be guilty of other things in this life, I had nothing to do with the death of Alex Herrman."
Callie thought it was interesting someone was finally using Alex's real name. "Were you her dealer?"
He looked at her suspiciously. "Who's saying that?"
"No one. I was just making a guess from the times you were seen at her place late at night."
"I should have known all those busybodies would know what's happening. I don't care what they think they know, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a specific person you'd heard it from."
"I'm not following you," said Callie.
"I don't know how Alex died, but I think I'm being set up for her murder."
"Why do you think that?" Callie asked.
"One of the people I was dealing drugs to was Alex--Molluska. This was before the pageant and all. She wasn't a serious meth head or anything, just an occasional user. At first, when I heard she was dead, I didn't think anything of it. But after practice yesterday, I was talking with Wade and he said something about her dying of a drug overdose."
"Her coffee was laced with meth," said Callie.
"It wasn't an accident, was it?" he asked.
"I don't think so," she said, remembering the bash on the back of Molluska's head, "The police are still investigating."
"Then I'm going to be set up as her killer or I know too much. Either way, I lose. I want to tell the truth so someone knows if anything happens to me."
Callie understood. "Why don't you take this to the police?"
"I'm not sure who to trust At this point, I'm 100% certain I'd be the only one to go to jail and probably end up taking the fall for Alex. I saw you were sort of friendly with that detective and I thought maybe you could pass some things along without mentioning where you might have gotten the information. I mean, I know in the end I'll probably go back to jail for a while anyway, but if that happens, I'd like it to be for a crime I've actually committed. I also want to avoid the same type of accident that happened to Alex."
She raised one eyebrow. "I can't promise you anything, but I'll do my best. But you have to stop dealing the meth."
"I guess that's all I can ask for. I never liked getting people hooked on that stuff anyway," he said. "This deal I got, where I was able to do community service? It's a pretty sweet deal. I only did thirty days in the county jail, even though they probably could have had me in for a couple of years."
"I thought it had something to do with budget cuts. Aren't they trying to focus on more violent criminals and allowing the non-violent offenders less time?"
"Someone came to me and told me they could fix it so I did minimum time," he said. "All I had to do was take the thirty days and when I got out, take up my dealing where I had left off."
"So when the police caught you with marijuana in the shop it really wasn't your personal stash?" she asked.
"No," he said. "But I was only dealing marijuana then. When I got out, the deal was that I had to add meth to my business."
"You must have trusted this person a lot," said Callie. "You were basically giving them evidence that would have put you away for dealing something serious and not just Skinner's favorite homegrown weed."
He said, "I know, but it also sort of gave me power over them as well, understand? They knew all about my dealing, but I now had something on them as well. We couldn't rat each other out without exposing ourselves in the process. I mean, it wasn't like I had any better deals being offered to me."
"So who offered you the deal?" she asked. "They must be pretty high within the department to have that type of clout."
"It wasn't in the police department. It was the mayor. Although I'm assuming she's got someone in the department helping her out."
Callie stared at him. "Dot Felson? Are you serious? Why would she want you dealing drugs?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. At first, I thought she wanted to clean up Skinner. You know, set up a network and then do a sting operation where she could get credit for it. I kept waiting for it. Then, when there didn't seem to be any changes I wondered if she was going to use the information on the buyers for some sort of blackmail scheme."
"But that didn't happen?"
"No. I was the dealer, she took the profits. End of story."
"Did you have a lawyer? Can you talk with him? He had to think there was something odd about the light sentence."
"He was appointed by the court and I think suggested by Mayor Felson. Aaron Wolcott's his name, and I can't tell if he was in on the whole thing or not. His daughter has been an off and on client in the past, so it wouldn't be surprising if he knew something about the meth trade in town."
"Here's what doesn't make sense. Who was the meth dealer before you? I mean, you don't think the mayor was actively dealing drugs?"
"No, she's not the hands on type. I don't know who it was," he said. "They must have not been gone long as it was a fairly easy operation to step into."
Callie thought about Dot's shoes. Certainly a shoe fetish wouldn't be enough to make someone deal drugs. Or kill someone. Callie wasn't sure that Sheldon was telling her the full truth. What better way to cover his own tracks than by accusing someone else?
Sheldon left and Callie called Scott's cell phone. She got his voicemail and left him a message to call her. She wasn't sure how she could pass along Sheldon's information without either outing Sheldon or making Scott think she was a fool for accusing the mayor. He hadn't been totally impressed with her last efforts at intuition. Plus, if what Sheldon said was true, she couldn't imagine Dot leaving a trail. She would most likely have covered her tracks well.
Callie knew she couldn't take this to Scott without more proof. Making a visit to Audrey's dad could be enlightening. Aaron Wolcott might be able to give her an indication of whether or not he knew anything about Sheldon's sentence.
Aaron's office was located downtown, not far from City Hall. Callie went back to her cottage and showered, telling her mom she would get breakfast in Skinner. She was getting tired of instant coffee anyway.
She dressed with more care than normal, pulling on a pale blue silk blouse and black pants. She put on the only pair of formal shoes she had brought on the trip, a pair of low heeled sling back Michael Kors’. They were dressy, but still casual enough for Skinner. Because of the rain, she also took an umbrella.
Once again, she parked at the Newsome Garage, as it was central to downtown and she wouldn't have to spend time searching for on street parking. As she crossed the street, she saw Jacob and his dogs still sitting on the corner and a thought occurred to her.
"Hey, Jacob," she said. "How's life?" Garcia came up to her again, his tail wagging as she reached down to pet him. The alcove was covered, so the rain didn't reach them.
"I'm not going to complain," he said. "It's summertime and the livin' is easy."
"I just realized you have a great view of the doors to the Newsome Center," she said. "Have the police come and talked to you about Monday night?" Callie thought it was possible Jacob might have seen something, although she couldn't imagine he had managed to mark any comings and goings with something as regulated as a clock.
"No, they haven't," he said. "I mean, they come and talk to me all the time, but usually it's just to get me to move off my corner. What happened on Monday?"
She didn't want to go into any detail with him. "There was a sort of accident in the theater later in the evening and I was wondering what time some of the people left."
"These are the folks all dressed fancy in green and black, right? It looks like practice for a heavy metal band or something. I don't have a watch, so I can't really tell you what time things happen."
"Even if you don't know what time, did you see anything interesting?"
"Got a dollar so I can feed the dogs? They keep going over and digging in that garden, so I need to get them something to eat to keep them out of trouble."
She sighed and pulled out her wallet. She wasn't sure if paying him was going to get her any better information, but hey, it was for the dogs, right? She handed him a five hoping he wouldn't think her a soft touch.
"Thanks babe!" he said. "Let's see, Monday...I think it was getting on later, maybe almost sunset, because the evening garden vegetable hand out was finished. I was sitting here with some awesome carrots, when I saw a woman, not dressed in green and black coming out the door. Some lady with black hair and a big frilly green skirt came out and they stood and talked for a few minutes. Looked to me like they were arguing."
Callie nodded. "You're right, that is interesting. What happened next?"
"They both went back inside. I started paying attention to my dinner, so I wasn't watching the door anymore and then all these police and ambulances showed up and I took off," he said. "Sometimes life is about knowing when to be absent."
"They both went back inside?" Callie asked. "You're sure? The woman didn't walk over to city hall?"
He shook his head. "Nope." Garcia walked back over to Jacob and sat down, his head on his paws.
"Thanks. Keep an eye on the door from now on if you find the time," she said. Maybe she should get him a watch. He'd probably just sell it though.
Callie wondered what Dot and Sheldon Normal had to argue about. She had assumed Dot had left the building long before Molluska had died, but now she wasn't sure that was true. Dot's alibi hadn't really been strong to begin with and now it was truly questionable.
Aaron Wolcott's office was located in a multi-story building, one of the tallest in downtown, a block off of the main square. The ground floor was made up of two retail shops, one showing antiques, the other expensive merchandise destined to be antiques someday. Callie was drawn to both window displays and glad that because of the early hour both shops were still closed. She didn't need to be shopping and taking things back to New York with her. The rest of the building was filled with a mix of medical and legal offices. Aaron's office was located in the penthouse suite on the top floor. She wasn't sure if this was an indication of financial success or just the fact that his firm had outlasted all the other businesses in the building.
She entered the suite of offices with the name of his law firm on them and went up to the receptionist's desk. The receptionist was an older woman with short white hair and red-framed glasses. "Can I help you?" she said in a tone of voice that indicated this was probably impossible.
"I don't have an appointment, but I was hoping to have a few minutes with Aaron Wolcott this morning," she said.
"I'm afraid Mr. Wolcott is fully booked with clients today. Would you like to make an appointment?" the receptionist said, licking her finger and flipping through a large paper appointment calendar on her desk. "I believe he has some openings next week."
"I'm not here needing a lawyer, I'm an old friend of his daughter's and..." Callie stopped speaking as Aaron came out of his office looking down at a sheaf of papers.
"Gloria, can you have these over to the courthouse before noon?"
As he gave Gloria the papers he saw Callie standing at the desk. "Now here's a face I haven't seen in a long time! Callie Stone! Audrey said you were in town. Come in, come in." Callie managed to restrain herself from throwing a knowing glance at the receptionist and followed Aaron into his office. The view was one she hadn't seen before as Skinner didn't have a lot of tall buildings overlooking downtown. The back wall, behind his chair was half glass and showed Skinner in all its tree covered glory. The view looked towards the West and she thought she could see the Coast range of mountains, although they were hazy at this distance.
"Wow, what a view!" said Callie. "Even in the rain, the city is beautiful."
He nodded as he sat down, directing her to the brown leather chair across from the desk. "I have to have my desk face the other way or I'd spend all day staring out the window," he said. "You're looking good. Is work in New York agreeing with you?"
"Up until now," she said. "I find myself between jobs and I'm exploring my options." She thought that sounded better than saying she was unemployed.
"I'm sure you will figure out something. You were always such a go-getter. And a good influence on Audrey," he said.
"I always thought it was the other way around," she said. "Audrey taught me a lot. I can't imagine how hard high school would have been without her."
"Maybe you were good for each other," he said. "I think she could use a good friend these days."
"We had a nice time at lunch," Callie said. "I'll try to get her out of the house and out on the town before I leave."
"I think she'd like that," he said hesitantly. "I'm not sure how to ask you this, but did you think she looked well when you saw her?"
Seeing the concern on his face, Callie decided to be open on her thoughts about Audrey. "I don't know if I'd say well. She looks like she's getting by, but she doesn't look happy."
"I think she may have gotten involved in some things she doesn't know how to get out of," he said.
Callie wondered if he was referring to the possibility of Audrey's drug use. However, as she had heard that information from Scott, she didn't think it would be diplomatic to mention as that might lead to questions of how she knew. It was obvious Aaron had an idea his daughter was in some sort of trouble.
"Look, I'll definitely give her a call and see if I can chat it out of her," said Callie. "I'm not sure I can be of any assistance. We've been apart for a long time."
"Whatever you can do will be helpful, I'm sure," he said. "Did you come by just to say hi, or was there a greater purpose to this visit?"
"Perceptive as always," said Callie. "I don't know if you've heard, but while I'm here in town, I'm helping out with Skinner Days."
"You can't even go on a vacation without working?" he said, smiling.
She shook her head. "Apparently not. I'm here to ask about Sheldon Normal."
"Is he in trouble again?" His tone of voice suggested this wasn't a surprise to him.
Callie didn't want Aaron to know she was asking anything about Molluska's death. "Not exactly. He's asked me to sign off on his community service hours and he mentioned you were his lawyer when he got the jail time and sentence. I was wondering if you could tell me about that or anything about him."
"I don't think I'm abusing attorney client privilege, as this is public knowledge, but I took him on as a pro bono client. I offer free services to the courthouse a few times a year and they assign me to whoever is next on the docket needing representation," he paused. "In this case, the fairy godmothers of law were looking out for him as we got offered one of the best plea deals I've seen in my time as a lawyer. Of course, we took it. He probably should have served more time, but I've learned the law gives and takes. When it gives, you run with it."
So Sheldon had at least been telling the truth about the plea deal and Callie was now certain Aaron had nothing to do with arranging it. "Is there anything you can tell me about him?"
He pursed his lips. "I'm not allowed to like or dislike my pro bono clients, so I defended him to be the best of my ability. Let's just say, I think he's not done with his personal troubles and I would not be inclined to take him on as a paying client."
"I think that tells me what I wanted to know," said Callie. "And I've taken up enough of your time today. It was good to see you."
He came around from the desk and gave her a hug. "It was good to see you too. I hope you find the time to go out with Audrey again before you head back to New York."
Callie took the elevator down and headed towards Caffe Misto. As she was drinking her hazelnut latte and guiltily eating a whole cinnamon roll by herself, she decided to try and make good her promise to Aaron Wolcott and dialed Audrey's number.
The phone rang a few times and Consuela answered. "Hello?"
"Consuela, it's Callie Stone. I visited Audrey a few days ago."
"Callie, it's nice to hear from you again. I know Audrey was hoping to hear from you while you were still in town," she said.
"Is she home? I was wondering if she was free today."
"She's in the sunroom with the girls," said Consuela. "Let me get her."
Audrey came on the line. "Callie, I didn't think to hear from you so soon."
"I know. I'm not sure how long I'll be in town and I wanted to see you again. Any chance you can play hooky today?"
"I'd have to check and make sure Consuela's ok with it, but what did you have in mind?"
"I thought we could do lunch out at the Creekplace Center and then take in an early afternoon movie. It will be like old times," said Callie.
"That sounds good. What time?"
"Let's meet there at eleven thirty. We'll beat the lunch crowd."
"I'll see you at the door to the Macy's," said Audrey.
Callie laughed. "I remember taking the city bus to that door so many times. I'm glad I can finally drive there."
Audrey was already waiting for Callie when she arrived at the Creekplace Center. Her bright red hair was pulled back in a low pony tail and she was wearing a pale pink long sleeved t-shirt and skinny jeans. There seemed to be a subtle difference about her. Callie thought she looked less defeated somehow, more energized.
"I have some big news," said Audrey. "I got asked out on a date!"
"Really? I had the impression Skinner had a shortage of available men who above college age. Please tell me you aren't robbing the cradle," said Callie, smiling.
They walked into the Macy's. "He's a pediatric dentist I met him while taking the girls in to get their teeth checked."
"A dentist. Nice choice. Where's he taking you?"
"We're going to an Indian restaurant. He's lived in Skinner for 20 years, but he was born in Delhi and came here with his parents when they moved to the States."
"Do you like Indian food?" asked Callie.
"I don't know. I've never really had any," said Audrey. "I am trying to be more open minded about things. I've been in a rut and I think I need to make some changes in my life."
They walked through the department store and headed to one of the chain restaurants located on the edge of the mall's food court.
They sat down, and after they ordered, Callie said, "I ran into your father when I was downtown. He looks really good."