Murder of a Creped Suzette

“Maybe and no. Since he was alone working at the farm that Monday afternoon, he couldn’t think of anyone who’d seen him.” Wally turned onto the gravel road leading to the Country Roads Tour Airstream. “Too bad the animals can’t talk.”

“That’s for sure. Toby could solve the case for us.” Skye chuckled. “I take it Owen continues to refuse to say who he was with last Saturday.”

“Yep. He’s maintaining that we have no right to ask him for that information.”

Skye was silent for a few seconds, then offered tentatively, “I have an idea about finding Suzette’s twin. But I don’t know how good it is.”

“I’m all ears,” Wally encouraged. “Since this case isn’t a priority—no imminent danger suspected—the federal database has informed me that they won’t have any information for at least two weeks.”

“How about those genealogy sites online? Couldn’t you use those to track down Suzette’s brother?”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Wally thought for a moment. “I’ll have Martinez check out a couple sites tomorrow.”

Skye hated to bring up the subject of Wally’s ex-wife, but she had to know the status of that situation. “Anything new with Darleen?”

“Around noon today I tried that number you gave me again. This time, a guy answered on the first ring.” Wally pulled the car next to the silver trailer but made no move to get out. Instead, he turned to Skye and took her hands. “He said basically the same thing he said to you.”

“Basically?”

Wally sighed. “I told him that if Darleen wouldn’t provide a truthful account of our married life without being paid, I’d just wait for the annulment process to continue without her input. He said in that case Darleen would write a letter disputing my claims about the marriage and I’d never get an annulment.”

“Is that possible?”

“I’m guessing that if such a document surfaced, it would be my word against hers.” Wally wrinkled his brow. “The guy said to call him tomorrow night at seven and have the money ready to hand over to him.”

“I’ll call Father Burns in the morning and make an appointment for after school. We need to check what he has to say about the situation.” When Wally was silent, Skye asked, “Right?”

“Yeah.” Wally frowned. “I guess that’s the logical next step. We’ll decide what to do after we talk to him.”

“Okay.” Skye kissed Wally’s cheek; then as she was getting out of the T-bird, she said over her shoulder, “One thing at a time.”

It was nearly six o’clock when Skye and Wally climbed the trailer’s steps. Skye lifted her fist to knock, still thinking about what Wally had just told her, when Wally’s hand closed over hers and gently pushed it down to her side.

She turned and saw that he had his finger to his lips and his head inclined toward the door. Once she moved closer and concentrated, she could hear an argument coming from inside the RV.

The sound was muffled by the trailer’s walls, but Skye heard a man shout, “All I’m saying is that we need to cool it for a while.”

“Fine. If you’re going to be a jerk about it, maybe we should cool it for good.”

Skye figured the second voice had to be Kallista’s. She mouthed the name to Wally, who nodded.

“Baby, you know I don’t want that,” Mr. Jerk wheedled. “I love you.”

“You sure aren’t showing it,” Kallista screeched. “You’ve got your eye on that sound-and-lights chick, don’t you?”

“Of course not, sweetie pie.” Mr. Jerk’s baritone dropped into bass range. “You’re my one and only. You know I want to marry you as soon as all the papers with the music theater deal are signed and we can both get shed of Rex. You can get a divorce and I can get free of my contract.”

“Then why don’t you want to see me anymore?” Kallista sobbed.

“Baby doll, I’m just trying to protect you,” Mr. Jerk sweet-talked. “Rex is acting suspicious and I don’t want you to get into trouble. We both know he’s got a temper.”

“Yeah.” Kallista’s voice faltered. “But he’s mostly just a lot of hot air, and he doesn’t care if I have my little flings, as long as the guy isn’t any threat to his ego.” Her tone brightened. “Which is why I let him think I was messing around with one of the boys in the band. And since he doesn’t know which one, nobody gets hurt.”

There was a lengthy silence, and just as Wally raised his hand to knock, Kallista said, “It would have been so much better if Rex was the one under that steamroller instead of that bitch. If he was dead, I’d inherit it all and we wouldn’t have to wait anymore.”

Another lengthy silence, then Kallista said, “You’d better go. Rex might come back any minute.”

Before Skye could react, the door swung open and Flint James nearly plowed her down in his haste to exit the Airstream.

He stopped abruptly, stared at Skye and Wally, then blurted, “Excuse me. I was . . . uh . . . just checking to see if Rex wanted to ride with me to tonight’s meeting.” He pushed past them and disappeared in the direction of the footbridge that led from the park to the motor court.