Another Word for Murder (31 page)

“You mean when Papyrus was hit?” Rosco said.

“Correct-o, Poly—crates. It turns out our Frankie was involved. He left his fingerprints all over the store's safe; which just happens to be twenty miles away from where the Corvette was torched—at basically the exact same time.”

“Which means that Frank couldn't have killed Dan.”

“Not unless O'Connell was capable of being in two places at once. Our dead puzzle-man just got himself an alibi.”

CHAPTER 36

The sun had almost set, and Munnatawket Beach was in the process of turning a gentle coralline hue that simultaneously reflected and softened the more vivid colors of the sky. The ocean's expanse had become a pale crimson, the foam on the breaking waves was strawberry-pink, and the light beaming into Belle and Rosco's faces was so rosy and healthful that it made them appear rejuvenated and carefree rather than anxious and careworn.

“So now the Feds and Abe have confirmed that the fingerprints on the Corvette belong to none other than Rob Rossi—which, in turn, is currently inspiring a major manhunt for a guy whose previous notoriety was how fast he could open beers…. ” Belle was thinking aloud as she walked, head down and heedless of the beauty of the evening.

Rosco didn't bother to respond. They'd been analyzing Abe's newest discovery for the past twenty minutes, which was why they'd driven to the beach. As similar seaside trips had done many times in the past, this evening's ocean air and sand-between-the-toes stroll was intended to clear their brains and give them a much-needed time out, as well as providing Kit and Gabby with ample opportunity for stick and ball chasing.

“So Frank
wasn't
involved in Dan's death, but Rob
was
…. ” Belle continued to mutter while Rosco picked up an ancient and now salt-soaked tennis ball and heaved it back down the beach from whence it just had been retrieved. Both dogs tore after it, sending up small clouds of russet sand in their wake.

“I guess you wouldn't want to fetch a stick if I threw it, would you?” Rosco said to his wife. He raised a piece of driftwood in the air. “On your mark—”

She looked at him in bewilderment. “What?”

“I said, I guess you wouldn't like chasing after this.”

“Chasing after …?”

“Never mind. It was a joke.”

“A joke?”

Rosco shook his head. “As in, what I said was supposed to be
amusing.”

Belle frowned in thought. “You're not comparing me to one of our four-legged friends, are you?”

Rosco chuckled. “To both of them, actually. When have you known either of those two to relinquish something they're wrestling with?”

“Is this a hint to get me to stop talking about murder accomplices?”

“Boy, is your brain clicking tonight.”

“Very funny.” But instead of following Rosco's suggestion, Belle returned to her examination of the Tacete case. “If Rob killed Dan, and Frank had a legitimate—or
not
so legitimate alibi—then was Rob setting Frank up to take the fall? Look like the guilty party? Ergo: Did Rossi strangle Frank?”

“Belle, this is supposed to be a relaxing walk.”

“It is, isn't it? I know I'm relaxed.”

“Liar, liar. You are not. Your shoulders are tensed; your forehead is in knots.”

“Well, this is a
knotty
problem,” was her swift reply, “
not
the least of which is how all these suspicious characters are
tied
together.”

“Well, let's see, there's the Karen connection,” Rosco offered.

“You mean as the mastermind behind her husband's murder?”

“It's happened before. And by her own admission a little over an hour ago, we know that Karen comes from a less than savory background…. ”

Belle deliberated quietly as Rosco continued his thought. “I realize Karen told us otherwise, but what if she knew all along that Dan was sleeping with Bonnie? What better way to hurt Bonnie than to pin Dan's death on her brother—and then have the brother killed?”

“By Rob?” Belle asked.

“Sure, why not? Al and Abe have connected him to the Corvette…. And you just mentioned him as Frank's potential murderer.”

Belle released a slow and pensive breath. “That's an awfully evil scenario, Rosco.”

“Homicide isn't generally applauded for its niceties.”

Belle cocked her head to one side. “Thank you for reminding me.”

“Don't mention it.”

She sighed again while her brain went back into high gear. “Why stop there, Rosco? Why not toss Jack Wagner into the witches' brew, too? He could have been lusting after Karen … and then connived to get Dan out of the way for good. Jack must have realized Bonnie and Dan were an item; maybe Wagner even knew the sordid truth about his partner's less-than-peachy marriage. Perhaps he convinced himself he was rescuing the lovely Mrs. Tacete.”

“
If
Wagner killed Dan. Which, I admit, is still not out of the realm of possibility.”

“Or he found someone to do his dirty work for him. Namely, Rob Rossi. We know Rob spent some time at the Smile! office. Wagner certainly had the opportunity to approach him.” Belle picked up a stick and began doodling in the damp sand while Rosco accepted the tennis ball from the triumphant Kit and threw it again. As before, both dogs took off like a shot.

Belle wrote FRANK, then drew a line joining it to BONNIE, and another connecting them both to ROB. She squinted at her work. “Wait, I'm forgetting CARLOS and ED…. So much for my tidy triangle…. ” She added those names, rubbing out lines and creating new ones, and in the center of the circle drew a poor facsimile of a sheep.

“I take it that refers to the notorious tavern,” Rosco observed.

Belle studied the picture. “I guess the beast looks more like Gabby than a member of the
ovis
family,” she admitted. “I must be better at depicting dogs than ruminants.”

“Well, you're good at
ruminating,”
Rosco said before adding, “Is this supposed to be leading us somewhere, Belle?”

“I don't know…. I just like writing things out.”

“Maybe you should put all these folks in a crossword.”

“That's right! I forgot Frank's crosswords … and the money found in his apartment.” She scratched dollar symbols into the sand and beside them wrote X-WORDS.

Rosco chortled, and pointed at Belle's scribbles in the sand. “X marks the spot.”

“If you're not going to help, I'd appreciate your keeping your comments to yourself.” But her heart wasn't in her gibe, because she'd already refocused on her expanding diagram. Belle added KAREN to the list, then drew an arrow from her name to the dollar marks.

“What's that for?” Rosco asked.

“She needs money, doesn't she? If what she told us is true, that Dan left her high and dry.”

“Which your outline definitely isn't. There's an ocean about six feet behind your back.”

“Rosco! Stop!”

“No humor. I forgot. We're deadly serious tonight.” He took up his own stick and began making additional arrows connecting everyone at the Black Sheep to the money symbols. “Looks like cash is everyone's motive,” he muttered aloud. “However, don't forget that it was Karen who gave up the ransom money in the first place.”

“Maybe she expected a bigger payoff down the road, and we're not seeing it,” was Belle's deliberate response. Then she added JACK to her suspects, and began rattling off a number of words. “Jack … dough, beans, cabbage, lettuce, mint leaves—”

“Mint leaves?” Rosco asked her.

“It's slang for paper money.”

“Ahhh …” Any potential retort was interrupted as Gabby returned with the ball clutched in her mouth. Her curly topknot and little beard appeared the essence of smug pride. “You finally beat your big sister to the prize, did you, Gabsters?” Rosco chortled. “Good for you.” He threw the ball for the two dogs again, then turned back to Belle. “Maybe we need some
tea
leaves to help us solve the puzzle.”

But Belle wasn't listening because she was too busy writing DAN TACETE in the sand. “It's weird how names sometimes mirror people's professions, isn't it?”

“You mean like Doctor Brayne for a brain surgeon or Fischer for an oceanographer?”

Belle nodded. “The first time I met Karen Tacete and learned what her husband did for a living, I thought, wow, that's sure an odd coincidence.” Belle paused to look into her husband's face. It was obvious he didn't have a clue what she was referring to. “Didn't I tell you about this already?”

“Not that I recall, but that doesn't mean—”

Belle interrupted. “The name's an Italian slang term taken from the verb
tacére
, which means to be silent.
Tacete
translates to ‘Hold your tongue!' or ‘Hold your jaw!'”

“That's quite a moniker for someone whose profession is dentistry…. More subtle than Doctor Paine, though.”

“Mm hm …” Belle agreed as she returned to her diagram and began making additional lines. “Okay … here's DAN … and he's having an affair with BONNIE who's brother's a felon…. KAREN'S the wronged wife, JACK's the partner who may or may not be involved in shady business practices … ROB and CARLOS and ED are some of the patients DAN has been treating at a reduced rate, and JACK doesn't like those scroungy types hanging around his swanky office.” Belle's words suddenly ceased. She looked at her husband.

“Maybe we've been looking at this situation from the wrong perspective, Rosco!” she said in a quick, excited gush. She jabbed at the names in the sand. “All these folks are connected to DAN, which is true, but look, here he is, at the center of everything: FRANK, ROB, KAREN, everyone …! What if none of them were conspiring against Dan …? What if
he's
the one who's been plotting against
them
, all along …? Including you and me by getting us tangled up in this mess by staging a phony kidnapping. Dan knew we were friends of Karen's and that she'd turn to us right away. Maybe he's been one step ahead of us at every turn.”

“Whoa … whoa … whoa … Hold on…. You're saying Tacete staged his own death?”

Belle scarcely heard her husband's question. “Rob's prints are on the burned Corvette. He vanished at the same time Dan went missing…. The body Carlyle examined was so badly damaged it could only be identified by dental records. What if it
wasn't
Dan who died in the Corvette? What if it was Rob?” Belle gazed at her husband, her expression triumphant. “Which would make it a perfect crime, Rosco! Dan kills Rob, but makes it looks as though Rob killed
him!”

This time Rosco frowned. “Let me get this straight. Doctor Dan Tacete, an otherwise respected member of the community, arranges to murder a fairly marginal guy who holds down a job in a local dive and in the process fakes his own death … I'm afraid I just don't see the motive, Belle.”

“That's because we haven't gotten to that part.”

“I see … but you're about to explain it. Is that it?”

“Well, no … I don't have a handle on that quite yet.”

“At the risk of being critical, I think I should point out that homicide usually involves a motive. It's a cause and effect kind of thing.”

“Hear me out, Rosco!”

“I'm all ears.”

“Okay … whatever Dan's motive was—and I agree he had to have a compelling reason for his actions—he arranged the scenario months ago. Maybe he even solicited Rob to become a patient. They were more or less the same physical type … all Dan had to do was exchange Rob Rossi's dental records for his own.”

“Uh-huh … and he keeps Rob happy as a patient while luring the guy to his death…. ”

“You're not taking me seriously, Rosco!”

“I'm trying to, Belle, but logic keeps getting in my way. And how does Frank play into this … uh …
inventive
scenario?”

“Dan killed him, too, of course—after setting him up to look like a kidnapper. He needed a clean ending to it all, so that the police would think the entire matter is wrapped up.”

“Ohhhh, Belle, I don't know …”

“Sure … Dan must have known all about Frank's nefarious dealings because of Bonnie, so he was able to coerce him into going up to Boston the night of the supposed kidnapping … and putting in an appearance at Sonny's Autobody—” Belle gasped again. “Unless … No, wait … Why not …? This works. This really works. It wasn't Frank in those gas station surveillance videos, after all; it was Dan wearing a wig and baseball cap. And the mustache! The one Dan recently grew that Karen thought was sexy, but that Lily didn't like …? Frank and Rob both had mustaches, so Rob's body—!”

“Belle, stop. This theory of yours is getting a little crazy. Besides, I keep coming back to motive. Dan's a successful guy, has a nice home, a good practice. Okay, maybe he shouldn't have been fooling around on the side, and maybe O'Connell was threatening to expose his affair with Bonnie. But all Dan had to do was 'fess up to his wife. It wouldn't have been the end of the world. Besides, she'd already guessed he was cheating on her…. Arranging two murders to cover up his tracks seems overkill to me.”

“As it were,” Belle said, then frowned.

“Right. And what about the crossword puzzles? Did Tacete construct those, too? And then leave them in the apartment as some sort of proof that Frank was, in reality, a brainy and misunderstood guy?”

“That's a clever touch, besides fitting perfectly into my supposition that Dan was using us from the very beginning. He was convinced that we'd get involved, and he was right.”

Rosco shook his head and stared down at the diagram.

“You don't like my theory because you didn't dream it up,” Belle groused.