Away in a Murder (13 page)

I laughed. “Really busy is more like it. But we needed something comforting. So we came here.”

“Well, we’re glad to see ya’ll.” She smiled and led us to a table.

On the way we passed a lot of familiar faces. There were even different groups from the park. Some in uniform, some not. One group included Nigel and Melanie. Another group included some of the engineering team; Bob, Charlotte, and Richard. We said hello to every one of them. When we finally sat down I heard a little voice chime out, “Just ignore little ole me.”

I recognized that voice. It was Aretha. She was this charming lady in her eighties. I had met her when Frankie and I were trying to solve the last murder that the city of Neuspech had. She was a maid for a family who had been friends with the victim.

“I could never ignore you, Miss Aretha,” I said. I got up and walked over to her table. She came around the front to greet me. I gave her a gentle hug. I was afraid if I squeezed too tightly I would break her.

“How you doin’?’ She asked me. “I heard your place got broke in to.”

“How did you know that? I mean it just happened,” I said.

“Small town.”

“Yea, I guess it is. I’m not happy about it, I’ll tell you that. The break in that is.”

Aretha sat down and I followed her lead. “That’s kind of what brings us here,” I said to her. “This place is familiar and feels like home. And, I thought that someone here might know something.”

“Yes, ma’am someone surely will. About the break in and the murder,” she winked at me.

“Well, since they’re both affecting my life in a bad way I’m anxious to solve both.”

“Well, all I can say is that reporter fella got what he deserved. You go around ruinin’ people’s lives and tellin’ lies like that. The Lord will get cha,” Aretha said.

“That may be, Miss Aretha, but it wasn’t the Lord who put that knife in to him. That was a person. And I can’t believe no one saw anything. Nobody even saw the murderer replace the fake wise man with Al’s body.”

“Because people don’t always know what they sees.”

“I don’t understand.”

“My dear departed James used to always say, just act like you belong and no one will question you.”

A light bulb went on in my head.

“So, you’re saying the killer could have replaced the scarecrow in broad day light as long as they acted like they were supposed to be doing it,” I said.

“Yes, ma’am. The killer was probably someone we all sees all the time. Someone who helps with the decoratin’.”

“Miss Aretha, you’re a genius. Thank you. You’ve given me an idea.”

I said good bye to her and walked back over to our table and sat down. My Dr. Pepper had arrived and Frankie had made a salad for me. My kind of salad, lots of cheese, ham, mushrooms, eggs, bacon bits, green pepper, and ranch dressing. I took a bite and then I realized just how hungry I was. I devoured most of the salad before I even told Frankie and Pete what Aretha said.

“Someone nobody would suspect,” Frankie said. “That’s brilliant. And, Mom, Pete and I thought of something too. It was probably someone from the park who broke in last night.”

“Yea, I thought of that. It’s really difficult to get in that front entrance right now. With the combination of the guard and the thick, thorny bushes you’d have to come prepared with a ladder. And even then.”

“But if you came in from the park entrance,” Frankie continued my thought, “there are plenty of places to climb. Unless they were stupid enough to use their key card.”

“No, only a few people can use that entrance. You. Me. Dad. Della. No one else needs to enter that way. They can always come in through the main gate like everyone else.”

Pete wasn’t speaking. Instead he was eating and taking notes.

Our server came over, “So is it as good as you remember?”

“Better,” I said honestly. “By the way, this is Pete. He’s our friend. He’s decided he likes Florida too and he wants to live here.”

“Well ain’t that nice,” she smiled. “Frankie has a friend here now.” Then she introduced Pete to the entire restaurant.

He was blushing. I laughed.

“That’s a good sign,” I told him. “She likes you.”

I went up to the buffet and filled my plate with ribs, potatoes, corn, and cornbread. I sat down and dug in.

“Mom, we’re supposed to be problem solving here,” Frankie said.

“She hasn’t eaten all day,” Pete said. “Give her a break.”

I wiped the rib sauce from my mouth and said, “He’s right. Well, you’re both right.”

“What’s our suspect list for the murder like,” I asked Pete.

“Besides all of you and me, we have Nigel and Melanie.”

“That’s it? We need to think, there has to be someone else,” I said.

“Why?” Frankie asked. “Both of them had a past with Al. Both of them could get to that back gate to climb it and break in.”

“Yea, but I don’t see either one of them climbing a fence. I mean Nigel seems more of a stranger to exercise than I am. Melanie, I’m not so sure, come to think of it. She’s thin, but that might be because she works out a lot,” I said. “I don’t know. I’m so frustrated right now.”

I stood up and announced, “Does anyone have any idea who could have killed that reporter or broke in to my apartment last night?”

“Did they take anything?” someone yelled out.

“No, they didn’t take anything,” I said emphasizing the word anything.

There was a buzz in the air but no clear answers. I sat down and looked at Frankie.

“This was easier last time,” I said.

“Last time the victim was a local. She was known by people here. This time it’s a reporter that lot of people have heard of but no one really knows. And that nobody really liked,” Frankie said.

I decided I needed dessert. I walked to the dessert bar and filled a dinner sized plate with three types of cake, fudge, and apple crumble with whipped cream.

“Are you going to eat all that?” Pete said. “It’ll go straight to your hips.”

“Probably, but right now I feel so stressed that I think I could eat the entire dessert bar and not blink an eye,” I said honestly.

“What the hell,” Pete said. He got up and left the table.

A few moments later he was back with a dessert plate. It wasn’t as full as mine, but it was full for Pete. I think he worried about his figure more than I worried about mine. Of course I didn’t really worry about mine.

Aretha stopped by our table. “Ma’am,” she said, “we all will keep tryin’ to solve your problem. If we think of somethin’ we’ll tell Jerome, William, or Marcella. We really want to help ya’ll.”

“Thank you, Miss Aretha. I appreciate your help.” I stood up and gave her a gentle hug again and she left.

Then Frankie, Pete and I sat at our table and thought. As I scraped the last crumbs off of my dessert plate, it occurred to me that I didn’t really remember eating any of it. Marlowe was getting to me. Then again maybe it was the stress.

What the hell was I going to do? Someone broke in to my house. And they did so to try to frame me for Al’s murder. Why? Why me? I mean, I guess they knew the police suspected me. They probably saw the show when it aired. Or maybe they were even at the taping. No, I couldn’t believe that someone who I worked with every day was a killer. Who? Why? None of this made sense.

“When we get back I’m going to work,” I said.

“Mom, no,” Frankie said.

“Frankie someone is trying to frame me. That someone most likely works at Adventure Planet. I need to find out who it is.”

“And if they try to hurt you?” Frankie said.

“I’m very good at self defense.”

“Saved you last time. Might not this time,” Frankie said. Why did he have to be so rational? He surely didn’t get that from me.

“Oh, Misty, don’t,” Pete said.

“I have to,” I said.

“Ok, I’m going in too. Pete, you coming?” Frankie said.

“What the hell. I’ll join my new family,” he said. “I’ll be Misty’s body guard.”

Yep, I’m sure the sight of skinny little Pete would scare away any potential attackers. They would be scared he might dance them around the park. I was giggling inside, but I didn’t want to tell Pete that.

The three of us left the restaurant and drove home. When we arrived Marlowe was in the garage about to pull out in my car.

“Damn, I thought I was going to get to drive her,” Marlowe said.

“Go ahead. You can use my car if you want,” I said.

“Better not,” Marlowe said, “I’m not sure what time I could bring her back.”

“Maybe another time then,” I said.

He and Frankie traded keys. I told him that I was going in to work so that I could feel somewhat normal.

“If I ask you not to, it wouldn’t make you change your mind, would it,” Marlowe asked.

“No, I’m sorry. I need an element of normal.”

“I’ll protect her, Chief, don’t you worry,” Pete said trying to look big and fierce.

Marlowe just shook his head and laughed.

“My guys are finished in there. The security fence guys are here and they’re fixing everything as we speak,” Marlowe said.

“Good. Thank you. I suppose I’ll have a mess to clean up later, but I can’t face it right now,” I said.

“No, need. Word spreads fast around here. Minerva is in there with a professional cleaning crew now,” Marlowe said. He winked and blew a kiss at me. Then he climbed in to his car. I watched as he drove off. Yep, definitely falling for him.

I stayed down stairs while Frankie and Pete went in to the house to get what we needed to go in to work.

“Don’t worry,” Pete said when they came back, “Those ladies are doing a great job. Besides, if they miss anything, I’ll get it tomorrow.”

I accepted my gate key and name tag from Frankie. (Yes, everyone at Adventure Universe wore a name tag.) The three of us walked through the gate and entered another world. Sure it was where Frankie and I worked every day, but it was also a fantasy world. If I was feeling tense I could walk out of my office, enter the park, and ride a coaster. Or eat an ice-cream cone. How many people can say that? Damn, I’m lucky.

I let Frankie walk in to the administrative offices. I took Pete for my usual walk in the park. My walk was different today. For one thing I took off my name tag so I looked like a guest. But also because the park was open this time. But it was more than that. I felt the escape today. I felt like I was in another world and nothing could ever hurt me again. That’s when I decided that Pete and I would have a date today. We were going to go on every ride. We were going to watch some shows. And we were going to eat theme park food. I was taking my future son-in-law to the park.

We passed a gift shop and I went inside. After greeting everyone I grabbed a map and a time guide. I saw that the Wild West stunt show was about to start. I grabbed Pete’s hand and we speed walked over to the show. The theater was full so we had to secure seats in the booth. Again, do I have a cool job or what?

Watching the show was a great escape. My favorite part was watching Pete’s face. I had been in on the development of the show. I had even called in a few favors of my own to get good no, great people to help design it. I could probably say every single line with the actors. For Pete, however, it was new. His reactions were authentic. He was enjoying the show. I was enjoying watching a newbie watch the show.

After the show we rode everything we could in Frontier Planet. We finished by eating at the quick serve barbeque restaurant. I still believe they have the world’s best brisket. After all, world famous Chef Michael LaGivens was instrumental in developing all of the park’s menus. This was a favor Frankie, my financial genius son, had called in when we first bought the park.

“Do I get to eat here for free if you hire me?” Pete asked as we finished our meal.

“Not unless you worked here before we bought the park. Then that benefit would have been grandfathered in. Depending on what you do, your discount would range from 25% to 40%.”

“What would I get as a member of your legal team?”

“Forty percent.”

“Oh, God I hope I pass the bar,” Pete said putting more brisket in to his mouth.

He and I were sharing a plate. First of all, I’d seen way too many guests throwing away plates full of food. I couldn’t stand the wasted food or the wasted money. Second, I wanted the brisket, but was still kind of full from lunch. Besides the more we shared, the more we got to try.

Pete and I spent the rest of the day that way. We rode everything we could. We watched every show possible. And we ate, or at least tasted everything we could. Hey, when you’re the owner you can walk in to a kitchen and ask for a sample. They never tell you no. Go figure.

We didn’t leave until after the park was closed. As we were walking back through the park to the administrative building the air became cooler and the stars came out. It was a beautiful night.

“This is an ‘I’m lucky to live in Florida’ moment,” I said. “It’s almost December and there isn’t a chill in the air.”

“Oh, I agree,” Pete said. “Misty, thank you for taking me today. You don’t even really know me. In fact I realized today that you could have thought I was the one who did that to your apartment.”

“I had that thought at first, but then I realized I was wrong. Somehow I trust you. Frankie trusts you, so I trust you.”

“Thank you. My parents never took me anywhere like this when I was a kid, but I always wanted to go. Thank you for this mother/son moment.”

“You’re welcome. We’ll have to do it again, I really enjoyed it. Maybe we’ll include Frankie next time.”

There was no response. I stopped.

“Pete? Pete?”

He was nowhere to be seen. Neither was anyone else. Where did he go? I felt a chill down my spine. The park was dark and quiet. The guests had gone home. The only people who should have been in the park right now were the night time maintenance crew, Melanie’s crew, and a few employees who were on their way home. Maybe something had caught Pete’s eye and he wandered off. But if that were so, shouldn’t he hear me calling his name?

My phone rang. It was Pete.

“Pete, where are you?” I answered.

“Pete can’t talk right now,” a voice said.

More chills ran down my spine. “Where’s Pete?”

“He’s fine. His head probably hurts but he’s fine. At least he will be if you cooperate.”

“Oh, right like I’m going to cooperate with you.”

“Oh, you will. You have no choice. There’s no one around to save you now. No one here to protect little Misty. No one here to protect Pete.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Protect us from what? What did the caller have planned? I tried to listen to the voice as well as listen for movement around me. I had a hard time focusing on either one let alone both.

“You ruined my life. Now you have to pay for it,” the voice said. “And you know what they say pay back is.”

I was trying to listen closely. Was it a man or a woman? Old or young? Any accent? I came up with no answers. I couldn’t get a clue as to the caller’s identity. Damn.

“Yea, I know. Let Pete go and we can talk,” I said.

“Ok if you turn left and walk behind the tree I just might let him go.”

“No. You let him go first. He never hurt you.”

Oh, God. Was it the killer? The person who broke in to my apartment? Both?

“Misty, just walk behind the tree on your left and I will let Pete go,” the voice repeated.

Yea, like I’d believe that.

“What do you want?” I asked standing still.

“I want you to forget about Al Learner. He was evil. He deserved to die.”

“Maybe he was, but when a life is to end it’s God’s choice, not man’s.”

“I had no choice,” the voice said.

“Then confess. If it was self defense Chief Campion will understand that.”

“Too late. You’ll press charges.”

Ok, so the same person who broke in to my apartment was the same one who killed Al. I was right. Damn.

“If you release Pete, unharmed, I won’t press charges. Just let him go.”

This was good. Keep him talking. Him? Her? I wasn’t sure. I was stalling for time, hoping Frankie would come looking for us.

“It’s too late,” the voice said again. This time it seemed to be louder. Closer maybe? Closer is bad.

I spun around to see if anyone was near me. I didn’t see anyone. I was in the middle of the path way and had no intentions of moving until I felt safe again. I mean someone had to walk this way soon, right? Frankie where are you?

“Where are you?” I asked the caller. I was trying to keep my voice calm, but I’m not sure it worked.

“Right behind you.”

I tried to turn again, but there was a sudden pain in my head. Then everything went dark.

I have no idea how long I was out. When I woke up I was sitting on a hard surface. My head was throbbing, I was blindfolded, my ankles seemed to be tied together, and my hands were tied behind my back. I could feel something. Something moving against my hands. I almost screamed but something inside stopped me. I realized the movement I felt was someone else’s hands and they were trying to loosen the rope around my wrists. It had to be Pete. That meant he wasn’t hurt too badly, right?

Suddenly it hit me that I could smell something. Wait was it gasoline? I could hear liquid sloshing. Was the maniac who attacked me trying to burn something down with us in it? Wait, didn’t Jamie and Adam bust the myth about setting gasoline on fire? I think it had something to do with the fumes. The less fumes the less chance of setting it on fire, I think. Ok, trying to remember what Jamie and Adam discovered helped me focus. I needed to focus. I needed to figure out a way to get Pete and I out of here alive.

Lucky for me the maniac had not tied my blindfold very tightly. I rubbed my head against Pete’s and raised the blindfold enough so that I could see under it if I tilted my head slightly. It hurt to rub my head against Pete’s but I had to. It looked like we were in a store room of some sort. I could see bales of hay that were left over from the Halloween decorations. Why were we storing them anyway? And there were some boxes. Great, both of those were great sources of fuel.

Then I caught a glimpse of my assailant. He or she was dresses in all black. Black shoes, black pants, black hoodie, black gloves. I still couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. The only good thing was that right now he didn’t seem to be paying attention to us. I decided to go with he, it was just easier.

All I could think was, “Pete, hurry up.”

As if reading my thought the maniac looked up and walked over to us. “Oh, good, I see one of you is awake.” His voice was muffled by the cloth he had tied around his mouth. He was also wearing dark sunglasses, so I couldn’t even see his eye color. Damn.

The maniac removed the blindfold from my eyes. “There now you can watch as the flames come closer. Of course you’ll probably die from the smoke before the flames get to you any way. But you’ll try to scream and run but it won’t do you any good. I’ll enjoy it. Especially hearing you scream.”

Damn, I couldn’t detect any kind of accent or speech pattern. I needed something to help figure out who this was. Give me a sign!

I wanted to keep the maniac talking. Instead he was adding more gas to the hay. I needed to think of an escape plan. Maybe Pete was thinking of one too. Hey, at least he didn’t know Pete was awake yet. That was our one advantage.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why? Because you’re a pain in my ass. Because you have to stick your nose in everything. Do you think you own this town? You don’t!”

“No, I don’t. I just care about the people who live in it.”

“No, you care about precious little Misty and her money.”

That wasn’t true, but I didn’t think this was the time to argue it.

“Really, what do you care about?” I said instead.

“I care about this park. I care about righting a wrong,” he said.

“How is killing us righting a wrong?”

“Killing that reporter was righting many, many wrongs. He ruined a lot of people’s lives and he didn’t care.”

“He wasn’t a nice man. I agree. But I didn’t want him dead, I wanted him to be revealed for what he truly was, a liar. I get being mad enough to want to kill him. But, again, why us? Why Pete?”

“You’re wrong. You’re an outsider. You don’t belong here. You should have never come here. You brought all these people with you. They came for jobs, but you ruined their lives too.”

“How? By giving them jobs?” I asked. I wanted to keep him talking, but I was also curious now. We loved Neuspech. We loved the people. Who could have hated us so much?

“Oh, you just did! You ruined people’s lives just because you exist. If not for you that reporter wouldn’t have even been here.”

Good, my captor was getting angry. Wait, mad was probably not what I wanted. Then again, anything that throws him off his game had to be good.

“Well, he did come to interview me, so you could be right. But it’s not like it was my idea to do the interview.”

“I’m always right. Now prepare to meet your maker.”

Wow, how melodramatic. I mentally rolled my eyes. Do people really say that?

“Could I at least call my son and say goodbye?” I asked.

“Oh, right, and let him track you here? I don’t think so.”

“Have you seen my phone? You can’t track it. It’s a flip phone.”

“You mean this phone?” He had my phone in its hands.

“That would be it,” I said.

The maniac then took my phone and threw it against the floor, smashing it. Then he stomped on it for effect. My poor little phone. Next he did the same thing to what I recognized as Pete’s phone.

“Oh, man. Do you realize I’ll have to find those numbers all over again?” I said. “Do you know what a pain that is?”

“You won’t need them in hell.”

Again, how melodramatic.

“I’m sorry, you’re confused. I’m not the one who is taking two innocent lives.”

My captor just shook his head and turned around to finish the job he had started.

That’s when the ropes fell off of my wrists. Thank God, my arms were getting so numb. I tried to return the favor, but I could hear Pete whisper, “no”. I got it. He wanted me to free myself and get us both out of there.

I watched the maniac as I untied my ankles. I left the rope lying there to keep the illusion that I was still tied up. I searched for something to use as a weapon but there was nothing near me that would work. That’s when I heard the door slam. He looked in the window, waved goodbye and threw a flaming lighter inside. Which unfortunately hit a bale of hay.

I jumped up and untied Pete as fast as I could. We looked around for a way out. There were several windows and the main entrance, but they were on the same wall which just happened to be near the fire. Behind us was a door. I ran over and opened it. It was a bathroom. I pulled Pete inside and closed the door.

Very quickly the room got hot and we were coughing. Pete took off his top shirt, wet it in the sink and shoved it under the door. It was a good idea, but not enough.