Murder on the Bucket List (20 page)

“Because you don't have an alibi?”

He shook his head. “Because I can't reveal it.”

thirty

Jake stopped on that
note. “I've said too much. I've got a workout to get in.”

“Thanks for giving us so much of your time,” Francine said, standing up when he did. “I know you're busy.”

“And there's a race to win tomorrow.” He gave her a wide grin.

The reporter snapped a photo.

“No interview,” Jake said. He flashed his membership badge and went past the front desk into the fitness area.

The reporter pointed the camera at Francine. She put a hand in front of her face, took Charlotte by the arm, and hustled the two of them past the reporter.

Charlotte smiled big for the camera. “What do you think of Jake's answers?” she asked after they were in the car.

“I don't know. I need to think about it.”

“What were the two of you whispering about?”

“I'll tell you when we get home. Right now I want to watch for any reporters following me.” There were two now, and they followed her back to her house. They parked in front.

Once safely inside, Francine invited Charlotte to stay for dinner. She sent Jonathan out to get the grill going while she shaped some hamburger patties.

“Jake told me two things,” she said. Charlotte was listening but went to the refrigerator and pulled out a plate of brownies left over from the luncheon. “One, he told the police about Friederich's secret video, and two, he has an alibi for the night Friederich died, he just can't reveal it.”

“I'd like to know what's on that secret video.”

“So would the police. He said they're looking for it.”

Charlotte sat at the kitchen island and prepared to devour a brownie. “Why would Jake not be able to reveal his alibi?”

“It must be a deep dark secret.”

“You know I'm not the compassionate type, Francine, but what struck me about our conversation with Jake was discovering how difficult his life still is. Here he is, growing up without a father, losing his mother and his grandmother in his teens, gaining a mentor in Friederich, blossoming under his watch, getting into NASCAR but failing, and when he returns to his roots and to Friederich, he uncovers some reason to believe even his beloved mentor has abandoned him.”

Francine slapped the fourth patty on a plate to give Jonathan. She went to the sink and washed her hands. “That sounds almost like a plot summary from one of those mystery novels you love.”

“If it were, it would provide the motivation for Jake to snap and kill Friederich, and then off Jeff Kramer when Kramer continues to hound him for a story. But I think it's more complicated than that. Do you believe Jake has a solid alibi for that night?”

Francine dried her hands on a kitchen towel and hung it back on a towel bar. “He isn't revealing it, but why lie to us that he has one if he doesn't? Who are we?”

“Let's assume for a moment that his alibi is good. That would eliminate him from the suspect list. We've already eliminated Larry. That doesn't leave anyone else we can name.”

Francine pulled a bag of broccoli slaw mix out of the refrigerator. Charlotte eyed it with suspicion. She hated vegetables. “Not to worry,” Francine reassured her. “You'll like the slaw. Let's get back to Suspect X.”

“I like that name. Suspect X.”

“So what do we know about him?”

“We know he killed Friederich late Saturday night and dropped the body into the pool shed at Alice and Larry's house,” Charlotte said. She paused to finish the brownie she'd been working on. “Suspect X knows Larry didn't have an alibi for that night because he's trying to cast suspicion on him. The same person also killed Jeff Kramer, probably the same night, who was supposedly following Larry.”

“So maybe Kramer knew Suspect X killed Friederich and then the killer had to take care of Kramer to keep him from talking?”

Jonathan came in from the patio. “Suspect X?”

“This is detective work,” Charlotte said. “We don't expect you to understand.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. He scooped up the plate of brownies and returned it to the refrigerator. “You'll ruin your supper, Charlotte.”

“Huh.”

“It's nice outside,” he continued. “Let's eat on the patio. I'll clean up the table.” Without waiting for confirmation, he pulled a spray cleaner bottle from under the sink, grabbed a roll of paper towel, and went back out.

Francine measured oil, sugar, and vinegar into a bowl and began to whisk it together. “I like the notion that Kramer knew who killed Friederich, which meant Suspect X had to eliminate him. But let's suppose that Kramer was following Larry when he discovered it. Wouldn't that mean that Larry also knew who killed Friederich?”

“Larry would have told the police if he knew. Surely. But that does beg the question, where did Larry go to meet this mysterious person? Let's call him Suspect Y. We don't know that, do we?”

Francine laid the whisk on the granite counter. She knew they'd met in the parking lot outside Friederich's garage, but she couldn't tell Charlotte that without letting her know she and Jonathan had met with Alice and Larry. She decided to ask a different question. “Could Suspect X and Suspect Y be the same person?”

“That would mean that Larry wanted a secret meeting with someone who would kill Friederich and then kill Kramer because he knew who killed Friederich. Sounds like Larry is meeting with the wrong kind of people.”

Francine put the bowl of dressing in the refrigerator. She got out another bowl and dumped the slaw into it. “Would Larry meet with people like that?”

“If he has a secret offshore bank account and won't tell Alice where the money has gone, maybe he has connections to the mob.”

“That doesn't sound like the Larry we know.”

“I'm not sure the Larry we know exists.”

Jonathan came in and threw away the paper towels he'd used to clean up the table on the deck. Francine handed him the plate of burgers. “Will you start these? We'll be ready soon.” He washed his hands, took the plate, and went outside.

Francine added sunflower kernels and crunched-up ramen noodles to the bowl of slaw. “What do you make of Jake's story that Friederich had a lover who didn't love him back?”

“We have no way to dispute it. We don't know enough about Friederich.”

“We could ask Jud about the video Friederich made of her as insurance.”

Charlotte snorted. “Like he'd tell us.”

“We won't know until we ask.”

“You're right. I should give him a call after dinner.”

Francine broke up cashews and put them on top of the sunflower kernels. “So could this mysterious lover be Suspect X, who killed him to get the secret video, if there is such a thing?”

Charlotte got a distasteful look on her face. “It couldn't be Sara Baggesen, could it? I mean, that's just disgusting. She's only sixteen. Friederich was nearly fifty.”

“No,” Francine said. Then she added without thinking, “Darla would have killed him.”

They looked at each other for a moment. Then they shook their heads at the same time.

“There's no way,” Charlotte said. “Darla keeps her under constant surveillance.”

“I agree. Besides it being so creepy, there's no way Sara could have had that much time with Friederich.”

“But he did have some kind of fascination with her. Or with her and Jake. What if they were having a relationship and Friederich knew of it and disapproved?”

“I offer the same defense as we used for Friederich: Darla would have killed Jake by now if that were true.”

Jonathan opened the sliding glass door from the patio. “Five minutes.”

She handed him a package of cheese slices. “I don't want cheese on mine, but I know you do.”

“I love cheese,” said Charlotte. “Two slices, one on each side of the hamburger.”

“I can't grill it that way, but you can put the bottom one on your bun,” Jonathan said. He took the cheese and returned to the patio.

“Speaking of Sara, she has an interesting tattoo on her ankle,” Francine said. She pulled a bowl of fruit out of the refrigerator and carried it to the table. “Mary Ruth spotted it today when we saw her working out. Some sort of Chinese or Japanese symbol. I took a photo of it with my iPhone.”

“Can I see it?”

“Sure.” She pulled the photo up on her phone and handed it to Charlotte. “Here's what it looked like.”

“I've seen something like this before. Can you get me a copy?”

She fiddled with the phone. “There. I just emailed it to you.”

“What it comes down to is this,” Charlotte said. “We only have two suspects if we discount Larry and Jake. We have Suspect X, the mysterious lover, and Suspect Y, the person Larry was going to meet.”

“What would a detective do in those novels you read?”

“If this were a cozy, she would start a rumor.”

“Like what?”

“That Jake has found the secret video that reveals Friederich had a lover, that she was the likely killer, and he's going to release it to the police after he wins the race tomorrow. He won't release it ahead of the race because he's afraid it might take attention away from his win or prevent him somehow from racing.”

“I can see how that would work if there's a mysterious lover because it would make her go after the video. But how would that work on Suspect Y?”

“We start a second rumor.” Charlotte went into a blank stare as if her brain needed total concentration to process possible scenarios. “Larry now has an alibi. We don't say what it is, but we add that the police have leads on who Larry was going to meet, Suspect Y, and they are tracking those leads. Suspect Y is a wanted man, because everyone else has a valid alibi.”

“How will Suspect Y react upon hearing the rumor?”

“The most logical response would be to leave the area before the police track them down. We've said all along whoever killed Friederich is a neighbor. All we have to do is watch for whichever of our neighbors disappears for a while.”

Francine wrinkled her forehead. “How do you propose to do those things?”

“
We
will work together to do those things. I'll spread the rumor about the secret video. You'll spread the rumor about Suspect Y.”

“Who do I spread that to?”

“You're resourceful, Francine. Think about it, and I'm sure the answer will come to you.”

She crossed her arms. “How are you going to spread your rumor? And what if you put Jake's life in danger by doing that?”

“You worry a lot, Francine. We're only supposing there's a mysterious lover out there and that lover killed Friederich. Even if there is such a woman, we've both seen Jake without a shirt and you yourself said he used to wrestle. I suspect he'd be pretty good at defending himself from a blood choke.”

“The killer might use a different method. It seems kind of reck
less.”

“Look, Jake will be at the racetrack all day tomorrow. There'll be people around him constantly. Plus, they have a lot of security. And we should go to the race too. We know about the rumor and we can be on the lookout for any danger to him.”

Francine walked over to the Bose iPod dock she kept in the kitchen and started up some Frank Sinatra music.

Charlotte noticed the iPod. “Don't forget, you said you'd give me the charger so I could juice up my new iPod.”

“
Your
new iPod?”

“I'm telling you, Francine, Friederich won't miss it.”

She sighed. “Here, take my charger. Plug this end in the bottom of the iPod and this end in a wall socket, and it'll charge up.”

“Thanks. I'll return this.”

“I'd rather you return the iPod to the police. Or at least to Friederich's house.”

“I think Jud would throw a fit if I tried to get back in the house.”

The phone rang. Francine answered.

“Good news!” Joy announced. “Marcy has arranged for all of you to get free tickets for the race tomorrow.”

“Really? That's great!” Francine relayed the message to Charlotte, who was more excited than she was. “Let me guess. We have to do an interview of some kind.”

Joy made a
tsk
noise. “Why do you have to be so negative all the time?” She paused. “But, as it turns out, you're right. You, Charlotte, and I will be interviewed by the track's network. Mary Ruth will be busy catering, so we probably won't get her, although I may interview her when I'm doing color for Fox Sports. I'm supposed to get the rest of you interviewed too, but you won't be nearly as difficult, since you'll be there as celebrities and won't have anything to do but look glamorous.”

“I'm hardly a celebrity, and I'm never glamorous.”

“You're wrong on both accounts. Have you checked Twitter lately? You're trending right now. In fact, you were number three last time I checked. Your hashtag is wetsundress. ABC's been promoting it after you rescued Mary Ruth on their show yesterday morning.”

Francine was horrified. “Now I might not show up at all.”

“No, no, no,” said Charlotte, overhearing. “We have to show up. Remember, we need to watch Jake to see what happens with the rumor.”

“What did Charlotte say? What rumor?”

“I'll fill you in tomorrow. When do we have to be there?”

“I have to be there at one, but I was wondering if you and Charlotte could meet me for an early lunch at Bob Evans. Maybe eleven?”

Charlotte responded enthusiastically to the idea.

“I guess we're in,” Francine said.

“Great! See you tomorrow.”

She hung up. “I wonder why Joy wants to meet us for lunch.”

“You didn't ask if Marcy was coming along.”