The Price of Candy (32 page)

Three days after their first meeting with
Nita Banks, Sandy met with her lawyer Martin Bronner in his office
near the Park Beach courthouse. They worked late on the draft of
the Juanita Banks wrongful death papers. Afterwards they walked
around the corner to the Windward bar for drinks. She called them
drinks, Martin referred to them as cocktails. The after-work crowd
had left and they sat at a quiet table near the front. She asked
him if it was too late in the evening to order a Bloody Mary, now
her favorite.

“Ah, you’ve discovered the timeless joy of
the Bloody Mary. Appropriate anytime, early morning or late at
night. Ideal if you want a little blast first thing in the morning
or before the official five o’clock cocktail time. Tangible proof
there is indeed a God.” He motioned to catch the server’s
attention. “I told my father all about you. He’d like to meet you,
perhaps join us for a cocktail sometime.”

“Fine. How’s he doing?”

“He’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. He
should be around for awhile.”

The waitress appeared. She ordered a Bloody
Mary. He ordered a Tanqueray Martini, straight up, with an olive,
and a drop of olive brine.

When it came, he sipped it and made a slight
frown. “This is made with vodka,” he whispered.

“Then send it back.”

“No, this is a neighborhood bar, not the Four
Seasons. As of now, I’m the only one annoyed. If I send it back,
two people, the waitress and the bartender, will be embarrassed.
Next time I’ll be more definitive when I order.”

She began to like him. He was a bit dramatic
at times, like when he explained why the Bloody Mary was one of
God’s finest creations. The most outlandish statements seemed
charming coming from him, such as when he told her all women,
without exception, are beautiful. It came naturally to him. He was
somewhere in between a strict by-the-book ex-marine like Chip, and
a loosely-tied nature lover such as Kevin. Martin was more likely
to get excited about a string quartet performing somewhere. Sounded
okay to her, she hadn’t been to a concert since Philadelphia. Chip
would never think of it. For an uptight guy Martin Bronner wasn’t
bad.

They met again in his office the next
afternoon. His modern office was sized for the three lawyer firm
his father once ran. The ambiance was upscale, with studied décor,
and spoke of high fees. On this afternoon, a guitar concerto by
Rodrigo was soft in the background. One wouldn’t know from
appearances that Martin Bronner, Esquire, had no lucrative client
list. The father’s personal office space was the largest and nicest
in the suite of rooms and although fully equipped was now never
used. Martin was supposed to use it, but he saved it in the hope
that his father would enjoy occasionally coming downtown and
sitting at his former desk. Perhaps recalling some old memories.
His father had come by only once since retiring and seemed
uninterested about any of it.

Martin had just come back from getting two
takeout coffees from the café across the street. Sandy was
reviewing his final draft of the complaint. They’d run it by Jerry
Kagan and then meet with the judge. Her phone buzzed, she knew it
was Kevin. Had she forgotten about the search for Jamie?

“Kevin, what I want desperately is to go back
and search Ruth Towalski’s house and garage from top to bottom.
Other than somehow putting the screws to Abby, I’ve run out of
ideas.”

While dealing with Moran and Nita Banks,
she’d been uncomfortable interacting with Kevin. He’d taken to
calling her daily, once in the middle of night, regarding Jamie. He
seemed to be coming apart and she had no answer for him. Although
she sympathized with him, he was difficult to be with and she
didn’t care to have any additional dates.

There was plenty of frustration to go around.
They had pressed poor Triney for more cooperation, but he could do
nothing further regarding the unreported kidnapping. Both Chip and
Triney were willing to lend police resources unofficially. However,
she believed it was too late for manpower. Too late to have police
fan out through neighborhoods interviewing people who might have
noticed a girl on a blue bicycle. Too much time had passed.

“Where are you now, Sandy?”

“I’m in Martin Bronner’s office.”

“Well, why are you there? I’m really
worried,” he couldn’t speak without his voice cracking. “If Toby
kidnapped her, he had to stash her someplace. Now he’s dead and
it’s possible no one knows where he took her. Could be Jamie’s dead
as well.”

“She’s not dead. I don’t think Toby would
kill her.”

“Not unless the bastard attacked my baby and
everything went terribly wrong. Jamie’s a little tiger when she
gets pushed. She’d fight to the death.”

“Don’t even think about that. Even though
they didn’t get along, it’s possible Toby left Jamie with his
mother. She has that new expensive TV which might indicate her
involvement. Even if she did know of the blackmail, it might not
have any connection to the kidnapping. I searched around her house
some, but not every crevice and couldn’t look in the garage at
all.”

“Will someone please explain to me why a
search warrant for that house is out of the question?”

“I already asked about that, the sheriff’s
not willing to stick his neck out. Says there’s no probable cause
for a search since there’s no reported kidnapping.”

Kevin said, “The police just aren’t
connecting the dots. Maddening.”

“Because they don’t connect the two
situations. The sheriff is investigating the murder of Toby, but
not the unreported kidnapping. You know, maybe I’ve been
approaching this wrong.”

“Something we’ve overlooked?”

“How about this? We stop asking the sheriff
to search Toby’s house because of a missing girl, and start telling
him to search Toby’s house because of their murder
investigation.”

“And if they do search because of the murder,
they might find Jamie. Why aren’t they routinely searching the
house anyway if they’re trying to find his murderer?”

“Of course, they’d search a suspect’s house.
But Toby was the victim, not the murderer. Let’s pursue this. Hold
on.” She called Triney and asked him why they hadn’t searched for
clues in the house where the murder victim lived.

“We’ve tried that. Ruth Towalski won’t permit
a voluntary search of her house. A warrant must name a specific
item to be searched for,” he explained. “You can’t go on a witch
hunt. The judge said searching the victim’s house for just any kind
of possible evidence that might lead to his killer isn’t permitted.
You need probable cause.”

Talking with Triney on this subject, and
hearing the sound of his voice gave her a strange feeling of having
this identical conversation with him before. Had they already
talked about searching for evidence of who had shot Toby? Had they
talked about the shooting of him before?

“Triney, this is going to sound strange.”

“Oh, oh. Here comes the soft soap. Go ahead,
get on with it, Sugar.”

That had to stop, it was just encouraging
him. “Before I get on with it. Could I ask you to please not to
call me Sugar? It sounds very nice coming from you, but I had a
disastrous relationship with a man who called me that. It brings
back bad memories.” That was a total lie.

“Of course, I’m sorry Sandy. I didn’t intend
to sound familiar.”

She knew exactly his intention. “Thank you.
Sorry I had to mention that. Okay here’s what I need. Could I look
at the file on the Toby Towalski shooting?”

“No way. You’re really a troublemaker. You’ve
too much time on your hands? You going to solve that murder
too?”

“Okay, don’t show me the file. If I come out
there, will you thumb through it and just talk out loud? Come on. I
was threatened with a knife and ended up scared to death with blood
all over me. You owe me something.”

“Okay, but I have somewhere to go in an hour.
Get yourself out here now.”

She relayed the message to Kevin; they’d meet
at the sheriff’s office. She said goodbye to Martin.

“Will you be at liberty for cocktails later?”
Martin asked as she was at the door.

“You’ve got work to do.”

Within twenty minutes, she and Kevin were
sitting across the desk from Triney. He had just opened up the
casebook on the Toby Towalski murder when his phone rang.

“Yes sir. Yes, Sheriff, I know. Of course I
know who she is. Yes, I’ll take full responsibility.” He hung up.
“The sheriff ordered you out of the building as soon as possible.
He says trouble follows you around and he doesn’t want deputies
seen talking to you. So make it quick. What do you want to
know?”

“The sheriff will feel differently after I
solve a murder for him.” She pointed to the casebook. “I had a deja
vu feeling about something...something you told me about the case.
Do you remember speaking to me? Telling me something?”

“Yeah, I think I did. I told you the bullet
lodged in his back.”

“That wasn’t it.”

“Oh, yeah. I said Toby’s killer used a
revolver as we found no casing.”

“Something like that. Keep talking.”

“Let me look here...yeah, the county lab tech
says it’s an old .32 long, an obsolete caliber for a revolver.”

She was so excited she jumped up. “Bingo,
Triney. Bingo. That’s it. How about this? You say the slug that
killed Toby was obsolete. It wouldn’t fit a modern revolver. Now I
remember...Ruth told me her husband collects antique firearms. You
see where I’m going with this, Sherlock?”

“You just made that up, didn’t you? You are a
sneaky one. I must admit it’s a good try. In fact an excellent
try.”

“I swear she did tell me. It’s true. So, an
obsolete bullet might have come from an obsolete gun. There’s your
probable cause to search Toby’s house.”

“You’re not kidding, are you? Okay, it’s damn
good. Moran will go for it because the warrant will state we’re
specifically searching for an antique revolver.”

She thought, and the specific item you might
find is a 10-year-old girl, however they don’t need to know that
just now. Aloud she said, “Go get that search warrant of Towalski’s
house. Remember I told you I’d make things up to you. Well, I’ll
give you another tip because I know where that gun is hidden. It’s
in the garage. Be sure to look in the garage first.”

“I remember what happened to Detective Pomar
when he took your advice. You’re up to something. What’s this
business with the garage? How do you know the gun’s in the
garage?”

“Absolutely, certain. Look first in the
garage. And Triney, if you have a Juvenile Officer on duty, take
her with you. Will you call me when you’re on the way over
there?”

“Hotshot, I wouldn’t make a move without
you.”

She and Kevin left the building and were
walking across the parking lot when she stopped. “The question is
why would the murder weapon be hidden in the victim’s house? The
answer is just beginning to sink in. If the old slug they took out
of Toby’s back, matches an old firearm in Ruth’s house, then I’ve
solved another murder.”

“You mean Ruth Towalski used an old gun? She
murdered her own son?”

“Stepson, I believe. I’ll be damned. I
thought it was Abby who shot him to get him out of the blackmail
scheme.”

He said, “So, it was his stepmother. Why on
earth would she kill him?”

“You’re right. Doesn’t make sense.”

* * * *

Three hours later, in response to Triney’s
phone call, Sandy and Kevin rushed out to Ruth Towalski’s house.
Five sheriff’s vehicles with flashing lights were parked at various
angles: in the driveway, on the grass, and in the street.

Jamie came out the front door holding hands
with a sheriff’s juvenile officer. She saw Sandy, jumped off the
porch, and ran to her. After a long hug, Sandy held Jamie out at
arm’s length. She was excited but appeared all right.

“Jamie, I’m sorry...I told you to trust
me.”

“Aunt Ruth—she kept telling me to call her
Aunt Ruth—told me about a woman who was here looking for me. I knew
it was you. I knew you’d be back to get me. So I was okay.” She
looked about to cry. Sandy held it back.

Jamie caught her breath. “I’m okay.” She
spoke rapidly, “I had a neat little bed out there in the garage. I
cried only the first night. Aunt Ruth would let me inside
sometimes.”

“Did she feed you?”

“Mainly apple pie and I’m sick of it. Do you
know about crossword puzzles? They’re really fun.”

Detective Triney came out the front door
guiding Ruth Towalski in front of him. She was handcuffed in front.
“When I knocked on the door, she knew it was over. She invited me
in. She admitted they tried to get money out of Kidde.”

Jamie appeared surprised. “See Sandy, that’s
what I told you to start with, I heard Mom and Toby talking about
making money off of kids. Oh wow, there’s daddy!” She ran to
Kevin.

Sandy called after her, “Not kids, Jamie,
Kidde!” She gave Triney a sheepish look. “Geez, that’s my fault.
Jamie overheard them saying Kidde. I jumped to the child porn
conclusion. I got on the right track for the wrong reason.”

Ruth saw Sandy and said, “I know you’re the
one who did me in. Knew you were searching all my bedrooms. Knew
you weren’t dumb.”

“All right, if I talk to her, Triney?” Sandy
asked.

“I’ve already Mirandized her. She can talk
with you at her own risk, but I’m listening, and I’m taking
notes.”

“I’m not mad at you,” Ruth said. “It’s okay.
Couldn’t go on like that with that poor child in the garage. Sorry
about that, but the smart kid would have escaped from any other
room in the house I’m glad it’s over. I’m so tired.”

“I must know, at any time was Toby alone with
Jamie?”

“Do I look that crazy? Okay, so I do look
that crazy, but the answer is no. And I didn’t want him alone with
you either. His mind messed up the way it is. Absolutely not.”