Murder Is Secondary (12 page)

Chapter 31

The next day, Susan was thrilled that Tank was in the clear, but another thing dawned on her. Dalia would now have to cope with the unpleasant truth that her husband was a murderer. Lynette had broken the news to her last night. After her morning walk with Mike, Susan decided to go by and pay Dalia another visit. Dalia didn’t seem as upset as Susan had imagined she would be.

“Dalia, how are you holding up?” said Susan.

“Learning the truth about Zachary yesterday was quite overwhelming. I’m still trying to process it. I don’t know how to tell his mother and sister. They will be devastated. I don’t want them to hear it on the news first. Making that phone call is at the top of today’s agenda.”

“You look exhausted. Have you eaten breakfast?” said Susan.

“No, I haven’t had much of an appetite lately.”

“Let’s go downstairs and at least get a cup of coffee. You can practice that conversation with me first if you’d like?”

“Yes, that may help me sort out what words I’ll use to inform Zach’s mother that her son killed a seventeen-year-old girl by running her over with a bulldozer. Let me wash my face and run a brush through my hair. I’ll be ready in a minute.” Dalia closed the bathroom door behind her and Susan had a seat on the edge of the bed.

She wondered why Dalia didn’t seem more confused about Zach’s motive. After all, the big question mark in Susan’s mind was
how was Zachary connected to Amber, a seventeen-year-old girl who’d lived hours away from him?
Susan knew that if she were in Dalia’s position, that’s the first question she would have had. Maybe Dalia knew more than she was saying. Maybe Amber was the product of an affair between Mrs. Bernstein and Zach. Maybe Zach had met Amber somewhere along the way and had started a May-December romance.
Now you are being completely ridiculous
, thought Susan.

As she waited for Dalia, Susan noticed a book on the floor by the nightstand. It was half-covered by the bottom of the bedspread. She picked it up, curious as to what kind of taste Dalia had in books. She looked at the cover and was shocked to find that it was the most recent edition of
What to Expect When You Are Expecting
. Lynette had the same book.
Poor Dalia
, thought Susan. She had to admit that she was surprised. Zach and Dalia hadn’t struck her as a very stable couple. Certainly not stable enough to be raising a baby. But now she was going to have to raise a baby all alone. Dalia came out of the bathroom.

“I’m ready,” said Dalia. “After you.” She pulled the hotel room door closed behind her. She and Susan went downstairs and had a seat at a booth in the café. Susan talked Dalia into an egg white omelet with fresh fruit.
She needs to eat for her baby’s sake
, thought Susan. After eating and discussing what Dalia was going to say to Zach’s mother, Dalia excused herself to go to the ladies room.
It’s the pregnancy
, thought Susan. She remembered having to use the ladies room all the time when she was pregnant with Lynette and Evan. Dalia had left her phone on the table and after a few minutes had gone by, a text appeared. It was from Phillip.
That was Zachary’s business partner,
thought Susan. Never able to squelch her curiosity, Susan just had to read the text. It said,
going as planned. All will be perfect soon. Love you
. This completely caught Susan by surprise. If Dalia was having an affair with Zach’s partner, maybe that was the motive for murder. Especially if there was a chance that the baby was Phillip’s and not Zach’s.
Time for another chat with Lynette,
thought Susan. She finished breakfast with Dalia and drove to the station.

Chapter 32

“Mom, we already spoke to Zach’s business partner this morning. He was in his office in New Jersey. We called bright and early. He has an alibi. There was a Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony last night. Phillip presented one of the awards, and a hundred or so witnesses can place him there,” said Lynette.

“But it makes sense. I saw a text that Phillip sent Dalia proving that they are romantically involved. Also, Dalia is pregnant. Maybe the baby belongs to Phillip and not Zach. Both Dalia and Phillip had something to gain from Zach’s death. If Zach died, the two of them could be together and Dalia would inherit Zach’s half of the business.”

“Well, that’s news to me, but it doesn’t change the fact that Phillip Bachman has an alibi. We’ll have to keep investigating. We’ve only just started working on this case. Be patient. The important thing is that Tank is in the clear.”

“Yes, you’re right. It had to have been someone at the shower though, don’t you think? Dalia was there. She could have done it.”

“Mom, Dalia had financial security with Zach and she has been with him all these years. Why come to Westbrook and kill him now? Especially if she’s pregnant. I can’t imagine her risking being caught and sent away to jail, leaving a baby behind. She’s known during their entire relationship that Zach was married before and she has probably been living with his abuse from the time they got married. The timing doesn’t make sense. This was a crime of passion and opportunity. No one planned to come to the shower hoping there would be a boom box near enough to the Jacuzzi so that they could murder Zach that night. Dalia could have smothered him with a pillow or put arsenic in his coffee any day of the week. She didn’t need to kill him at the baby shower.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Susan had to admit that Lynette was probably right. She thought a little longer, and said, “Hey, what about Mr. Bernstein? He’d just found out that Zach killed his daughter. I can’t think of a better motive––and talk about a crime of passion.”

“He wasn’t at the shower though. We would have seen him.”

“He could have snuck into the back yard.”
After all, he could have hidden behind the giant oak tree
, she thought.

“But he didn’t know Zach would be at your house that night and he had no way of knowing where you live. If he wanted to kill Zach, he would have gone to the hotel where he was staying.”

“That’s true. Lynette, I just thought of something.” Susan’s eyes lit up. “I found cigarette butts out in the patio. No one at the shower smoked. I smelled smoke on Mr. Bernstein when he was in here the other day. Those butts could have been his. Can’t you get DNA or something?”

“Again, Mom. Why would he have thought to come to your house to find Zach? I’ll look into it but I don’t think it’s plausible. And contrary to what you see on those TV shows you watch, DNA takes a lot longer to process than you’d think”

“Well that leaves Julie. She could have felt threatened by Zach’s sudden reappearance in her life. You know, they were once married.” Susan found it hard to believe, however, that Julie could do such a thing. She neglected to tell Lynette that she overheard Julie admitting to Dalia that she had faked her own death. There was no need to get Julie into legal trouble.

“I suppose she is a possible suspect. I need some time to investigate. Go home, Mom. That baby blanket isn’t going to knit itself. I’ll take care of things here.”

“All right. I can take a hint. I’ll go now.” She gave Lynette a hug and patted her grandbaby. She wished she could forget about the case, go home, and knit––but she knew herself better than that.

Chapter 33

“Hey Jackson. Let’s take a ride over to the Bernstein’s house. Get your jacket,” said Lynette.

“Sure thing.” Jackson was munching on a bag of barbecue-flavored potato chips. He poured the remaining crumbs into his mouth and tossed the bag in the trash. “I’ll drive. If that baby keeps on growing, you won’t be able to fit behind the wheel much longer.”

“Tell me about it. I can’t even fit into a booth at Vinny’s anymore.”

“You’re so lucky. I’d love to be a dad. I’ll bet Jason can’t wait.”

“He’s pretty excited, just like I am. So Jackson, speaking of having a family, when are you going to propose to Theresa?”

“I found a ring that I know she’ll love. I just have to think of how I’m going to ask her. You know, these days the proposal is a big deal. People come up with all sorts of creative stuff––flash mobs, hot air balloons––I’m just not that creative.”

“Don’t let that stop you. Jason took me out for a romantic dinner and proposed over a glass of wine. That was good enough for me. Trust me, she loves you and will be thrilled even if you texted a proposal to her. Hey, that’s the house on the left.” Lynette and Jackson parked in front of a three-story semi-mansion. Mrs. Bernstein answered the door. She looked as though she’d been crying. Her hair was not brushed and she wore no makeup.

“Hello, Mrs. Bernstein. We’re sorry to disturb you at such a sensitive time, but we need to ask you a few questions,” said Lynette.

“A few questions? If it will help me understand why on earth that man killed my daughter, ask away.” They followed her into the living room and sat on the soft white sofa. “I can see you will be a mother soon yourself. I hope you never have to go through something like this. I feel like I was murdered right along with Amber that night. I feel dead inside.” Her eyes teared.

“We are so sorry for your loss. I hate to bother you, but is Mr. Bernstein here?” asked Lynette. “We’d like to speak to both of you.”

“No, he went to the office. It helps distract him from this whole situation.”

“Mrs. Bernstein, where were you and your husband on Saturday evening?” asked Jackson.

“Saturday night? We were right here at home, watching television.” She gazed down at the floor.

Lynette noticed a hesitation in her voice. Was she telling the truth?

“Neither of you left at all that night? You’re sure? Do you remember what time you went to bed that night?” asked Jackson.

“We turned in around ten, no eleven. It was after
Saturday Night Live
.”

“After?
Saturday Night Live
starts later than eleven,” said Jackson.

Mrs. Bernstein continued to avoid eye contact. “Oh, I guess I must be mistaken. It was midnight. Yes, midnight.” Lynette could see that she was confused by her jumbled responses but there was more than that. Her intuition told her that this woman was hiding something.

“Mrs. Bernstein, this is really important. What time did you and your husband go to bed that night?” asked Lynette. She was beginning to lose patience. “Try to remember.”

“I don’t know. I was so upset, I took a sleeping pill. I hardly remember that night at all.” She slowly looked up at Lynette with her eyes glazed over.

“Then you can’t say for sure that Mr. Bernstein was home all evening, can you?” asked Lynette.

“Yes. I mean no, I can’t say for sure. But don’t think for a minute he killed that man. My husband is a good man. He wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“We aren’t saying he did. We are just trying to run a thorough investigation. We will need to talk to him. At this point, we’re just exploring all possibilities,” said Lynette. “We want to catch your daughter’s killer. Thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch.”

As Lynette and Jackson headed to the car, Mr. Bernstein pulled up.

“Well, two birds with one stone,” said Lynette

“Let’s go for it.”

Jackson and Lynette approached Mr. Bernstein. “Good afternoon, Mr. Bernstein. We were just chatting with your wife. Do you mind if we ask you a few question?” said Jackson.

“Of course not. Now that we know who killed Amber, I need to know why. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand why that man would have wanted my daughter dead.” His voice made a crescendo as he continued speaking. “I’m glad he’s dead.”

“We are looking for motive here, now that we know Zachary Chichester killed Amber. Thank you for finding the link to her murderer, by the way. If your private investigator hadn’t found that eyewitness we’d still be at square one. I received your voicemail after the baby shower Saturday night. You must have been anxious to tell me your news. What did you do when you couldn’t reach me?” asked Lynette.

“Nothing. I was disappointed but what could I do? I left that message and figured I’d talk to you in the morning. I was here all night with my wife.”

“Mr. Bernstein, we just spoke to your wife. She said she’d taken a sleeping pill and couldn’t remember much of anything. She can’t verify that you were home all evening.”

“What are you saying? Just what are you accusing me of?” His voice began taking on that gruff, authoritative quality. “Do you think I killed that man? I was planning on putting him away for life, but I didn’t murder him. I’m a civilized man.”

“Mr. Bernstein, we need you to be truthful with us. We have reason to believe you were at the crime scene Saturday night.”

“I can’t believe you’re accusing me of this.” He was practically yelling.

“We’re trying to find out why your daughter was killed. Please cooperate with us. We’re trying to help,” said Lynette.

“All right.” He took a breath and calmed down. “I did go to your Mom’s house that night. I was so anxious to tell you the news, I couldn’t wait until morning, but I certainly didn’t kill anyone.”

“How did you know where to find me?” asked Lynette.

“I went down to the police station. They wouldn’t tell me where you were, but I overheard two of the officers complaining about how they were stuck working when most of the station was at your baby shower. Then I happened to see an invitation tacked to the bulletin board. You really should be more cautious. It wasn’t difficult to find the house.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me then?” asked Lynette.

“I saw how happy everyone was. I realized it wasn’t the time or place to confront you with my information. I wanted to let you enjoy the shower.”

Lynette wasn’t buying this sensitive side. “So you left and went home? You were never in my mother’s back yard?”

“I didn’t say that. Of course, I wanted to see who this monster was who killed my daughter. I walked around to the backyard and heard someone refer to Zachary Chichester by name. I wanted to confront him––I wanted to kill him––I wanted to make him suffer––but I didn’t. I restrained myself and went back home.”

Lynette got the sense that he was telling the truth, although she couldn’t be entirely certain. “Thank you for being honest with us. We’ll talk soon,” said Lynette. As she and Jackson began to walk away, Mr. Bernstein called after them.

“Wait. I just remembered something that may be important. As I was sneaking back to my car, I could have sworn I saw someone moving quietly toward the house.”

“Did you get a look at him?” asked Jackson.

“No, it was dark and I was anxious to get out of there. It could have just been a neighbor or something but I remember thinking it was odd,” said Mr. Bernstein. “Another thing––I think it was a man. I heard him trying to stifle a cough.”

“Well, sometimes the seemingly least important observations wind up cracking the case. We’ll be in touch,” said Lynette.

She and Jackson got into the cruiser and drove back to the station.