Too Dead To Dance (18 page)

The eight ladies pushing
the carts were the two reference librarians, the three library
assistants and three of the women who ran the “Friends of the
Library” organization that helped the library with much needed
funds for new books. The library had tried to find a man for the
last open librarian position, but none applied.

The ladies were dressed in
colorful flowered skirts and big floppy straw hats decorated with
flowers that matched their skirts. Their matching white t-shirts
sported the slogan, Do You Know Where Your Library Books Are? They
marched down the street in strict order, occasionally sashaying in
and out making a figure eight. Then they moved to the curb, still
pushing the fancy book carts and shushed the crowd in exaggerated
form. We all laughed and applauded our library’s drill
team.

Following the librarians,
the Hermann High School band marched up the street, the students
sweating in their heavy uniforms in the mid-summer sunshine. Hot
and thirsty myself, I wished someone would squirt cold water into
my mouth the way the volunteer mothers did for the strutting
kids.

The two young men on the
curb laughed and drank Cokes from a cooler at their feet. Megan
finally sweet-talked them into sharing their stash, promising them
a pound of fresh roasted coffee after the parade. Good thing I had
fifty pounds in the back seat of my car.

After about an hour, the
last entry in the parade, KHER-FM radio station’s employees handed
out freeze pops from coolers in the back of their van. Three police
officers on motorcycles brought up the rear. People grabbed their
chairs and headed for their cars. We took our time, enjoying the
break for as long as possible, knowing it would be a while before
we would be able to get to the Fest Grounds through the
traffic.

While we waited for the
crowd to thin out, I asked Megan if she thought Sally and Bobby
could be involved in Wes’ murder.

“I suppose anything is
possible, Jennifer. This whole thing is crazy. I don’t want to
believe anyone I know could’ve killed another human
being.”

I had to find out what kind
of car Bobby drove. Sally had recently bought an older Dodge
minivan, which was about the same size as the vehicle that ran me
off the road but just didn’t seem right. Also, it was more of a
silver blue, way too light in color. Marty’s SUV still best fit my
image of that vehicle.

Megan drove toward her
home. “Don will be landing in Minneapolis in about an hour and I
don’t want to miss his call. Are you okay to drive?”

“I’ll be fine. Do you want
to do something later, after I’m done at the Fest
Grounds?”

“I don’t know. I may go up
and stay with him tonight. So, call my cell if you need to get a
hold of me.”

After she went into the
house, I maneuvered into the driver’s seat and slowly made my way
to the Fest Grounds. No multi-tasking for me until this neck brace
was off.

A half hour later, I walked
into the Home Arts building bringing with me the much-needed
coffee. “Where have you been?” Sally demanded. “I’ve been calling
your cell for an hour. Oh my God! What happened to your neck? Are
you okay?”

“I’m so sorry, Sally. I
keep leaving you here to do all the work. I had a little accident
last night but I’m okay. The brace keeps the pressure off my spine
and helps with the pain,” I explained in a rush. “Megan and I got
stuck at the parade. It was pretty noisy; guess I couldn’t hear my
phone ringing. What’s up?” I plopped down the coffee I had brought
in from the car, minus the two pounds we gave to the guys at the
parade.

“Detective Jacobs is
looking for you. Something’s happened. He just left. He said he
went to your townhouse and we both tried to call you. You’d better
call him right away.”

“What’s happened?” I asked
while burrowing in my purse for my cell phone, a feeling of dread
washing over me. “Oh, God. Do you think they arrested
Bernie?”

“I don’t know. I hope not.
Call him and find out.”

“On second thought, I doubt
Lieutenant Jacobs would drive all the way out here to tell me
that.” Checking my phone, I found Jacob’s missed call number and
hit the “talk” button.

After a short conversation
that told me nothing, I hung up. “He wants me down at the station.
He said to bring Megan, she’s my alibi. I don’t know why I need an
alibi but I’d better pick up Megan and get down there.”

I turned to Sally, “I’m
sorry to leave you here again. Did Mark ever show up?”

“He’s here. He went to get
something for us to eat,” She heaved a sigh. “We’ll be fine here,
just go. If you aren’t back, we’ll close up at six o’clock. We can
all come in tomorrow morning to break down the booth and
clean-up.”

I thanked Sally, thinking I
needed to give her a raise. And a bonus. “Sally, what kind of car
does Bobby drive?”

“A dark blue Camaro.
Why?”

“No reason, I thought I saw
him at the parade. Must have been someone else.”

I looked over to Trudy’s
booth. She wiggled her fingers my way and I knew she had taken in
everything that had been said. I decided to ask her about the
band.

Stepping over to her booth,
I asked, “Trudy, I heard that Ray and Clara and Vic are up to
something. Do you know what that is?”

“What are you talking
about? Up to what?”

“I don’t know. Someone saw
the three of them whispering together several times.”

“Well, of course they talk.
They play together and there are all sorts of things they need to
go over.”

“No, I don’t think that’s
what it was. It was just Ray and Clara and Vic, not Bobby or
Wes.”

Trudy laughed. “Oh, that.
They were planning my surprise birthday party.”

“How can it be a surprise
if you know about it.”

“They do it every year and
every year I act surprised. Usually they have a Saturday night gig
in one of the taverns around here. They invite all of our friends
and I show up and act surprised. We have a great time. Do you want
to be put on the guest list this year? It’s next month.”

“I’d love to.
Thanks.”

“Jennifer, who told you
that about the band?”

“Well, I really shouldn’t
say, Trudy.

“Frank. It was Frank wasn’t
it? He’s such a blabbermouth. He never could keep his big mouth
shut.”

18

I called Megan while
driving to her house. Lucky for me, she’d just hung up from talking
to Don so I got right through to her.

“I was just going to leave
for Minneapolis, Jennifer.”

“Meg, I really need you to
go with me. Detective Jacobs told Sally he wanted to see both of
us. I think they arrested Bernie.”

“Did Sally tell you
that?”

“No, but why else would he
want to see us?”

“A better question is why
would he want to see us if he’s arrested Bernie? Okay, I’ll call
Don. I’ll wait on the porch for you.”

When we pulled into the
parking lot at the county courthouse, I told Megan, “I called
Jacobs and he said to come to the side door and ring the
buzzer.”

We found the door and next
to it was a big red button. I pushed the button and could hear an
obnoxious bell ringing inside the building.

A uniformed deputy came to
the door and when I explained that Lieutenant Jacobs was expecting
us, he escorted us back to a large room filled with about a dozen
desks. I looked around for Detective Decker but only three people
were in the room--a young woman and a redheaded guy, both in
uniform at desks near the door.

Behind a desk in the corner
sat Jacobs in a wrinkled blue suit. Someone needed to buy this man
an iron. He stood up as we approached, grabbed a file off his desk
and ushered us to an interview room. Like those seen on television,
it was a small grey room with a scratched table and a few stiff
metal chairs. We sat.

Jacobs positioned a manila
folder in front of him and squared the corners precisely. “Were you
over at your husband’s house today, Jennifer?”

“It’s still my house, too.”
I replied, sitting up straighter, my hands clenching into fists.
“Edwin had better not try to keep me from there. I still have a
half interest in the house.”

“Is that what happened? Did
Marty Fischer tell you to go away?”

“No. Actually, she was
reasonably civil, considering we barged in on her. But, I saw her
SUV in the garage. I think she’s the person who ran me off the
road. She had an argument with Wes at the Fest grounds. I think Wes
was in on that bank robbery four years ago and Marty wanted some
money from him.

Jacobs waited while I wound
down, then looked at me and said, “Someone killed Marty
Fischer.”

I sat there with my mouth
gapping open. I think my heart stopped beating for a second. “What
happened? Who killed her? Did someone do this in my house? Oh, my
God.” I glanced at Megan. Her mouth hung open, too.

I snapped my mouth shut
when I understood Jacobs suspected us. But Megan jumped right in.
“Wait a minute; we didn’t do anything to Marty. She was alive when
we left the house. We talked to her in the kitchen, then
left.”

Jacobs nodded. “I know. The
neighbor saw you leave. She also saw Sister Bernadine’s car pull up
shortly after you left. Did you tell Sister Bernadine about your
conversation with Marty?”

“Oh, Mrs. Johnson, the
neighborhood snoop. What does Bernie have to do with this?” I felt
my head spinning as if in some sort of vortex. Scenes whirled in my
head until something connected.

“Oh, my God,” Megan said.
“Bernie was the last person to see her alive, wasn’t
she?”

Jacobs looked at me, than
Megan. He folded his hands over the folder and said, “Okay, now you
tell me where Sister Bernadine is and don’t jack me around.
Okay?”

I sat there, tears running
down my cheeks. “I haven’t seen her since church this
morning.”

“You went to Mass with her
this morning?” Jacobs asked.

I swiped away my tears with
the back of my hand. “No. I came late. But I talked to her before I
left.”

“Do you have any idea where
she might be now, Jennifer?”

“I don’t know why you keep
thinking Bernie could do something like this. She wouldn’t hurt
anyone—ever. What happened to Marty? How was she killed and who
found her? And what the heck was Bernie doing there?”

“Jennifer, I think you
forget who is doing the questioning here. I’m the police, remember?
Now where is Sister Bernadine?”

“I don’t know. I’m her
friend, not her keeper.” My head began to clear after the shock of
hearing about another murder in our little town. “If, in fact she
was there, someone else must have come by later and killed her. Who
called it in?”

“There you go again, asking
the questions.” Jacobs said, practically biting his tongue to keep
from laughing.

“I don’t see any humor
here, Lieutenant Jacobs.” I sat up straighter and pushed out my
chest, trying to look insulted. “Someone has been killed and you
need to find the person who did it.”

“Yes, Jennifer, and if I
knew where Sister Bernadine was, I could ask her if she saw
anything unusual while she was there. Or when she was
leaving.”

“Wait a minute. Aren’t you
looking at other suspects? What about the other members of the
band? They were probably closest to him.”

“They all have alibis. And
there you go again.”

“No. No they don’t. Did you
talk to Bobby’s parents? Was he home?”

“Bobby doesn’t live with
his parents. He and his brother share an apartment. But he wasn’t
home Thursday night; his brother said he was with his
girlfriend.”

“No, he wasn’t. Sally told
me he dropped her off and then went home.”

“Maybe Sally didn’t want
you to know he was with her. I told you, Jennifer. People lie all
the time. But we’ll check it out.”

Jacobs finally decided he’d
learned all we knew. But we hadn’t found out much about Marty’s
death from him. We knew that she’d been killed in the kitchen. I’m
almost ashamed to admit my first thought was that now we’d never
get the house sold.

Jacobs walked us to the
door and told us to be available if he needed to talk to us again.
“And, ladies, make sure you call me or Detective Decker if you see
Sister Bernadine. This is important, so don’t go trying to hide her
or anything.”

We assured him that we
would be good citizens and have Bernie call him if we saw her. I
didn’t mention that I would find out everything I could from her
before I had her contact the Sheriff’s Office.

We walked out the door of
the station and this time I almost knocked Detective Decker down
the stairs.

“Ohmygod!” I grabbed his
left arm to help him get his balance. “Are you okay?”

He swept me up in his right
arm and pulled me close. “I’m fine, Jennifer. Good Lord, what
happened to your neck? Is that from your accident last
night?”