Deb Baker - Murder Talks Turkey

“I hope they don’t start suspecting me next,” she said. “Tony and I had a terrible fight at the salon. Theymight blame me for his death, say I wanted to get rid of him.”

She didn’t sound too broken up over Tony’s demise, but to be fair, she’d been through a lot of heartache with him.

“I’ll clear both of us.” The lie slid easily over my lips. If Lyla had anything to do with Tony’s death, I’d turn her right in to free Blaze and Cora Mae. “Why did you suspect Tony of cheating in the first place? What made you hire the Trouble Busters?”

“It was only suspicions and feelings. I didn’t know anything for fact.”

“Did you have someone in mind? Someone you thought he was seeing?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“How can I help you if you won’t tell me what I need to know?”

“But I’m not sure, and I’d hate to start rumors.”

“Who am I going to tell? I don’t have a single friend left to gossip with.”

“Okay, but keep it quiet. I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

“I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Before I hired you, Tony was hanging around at the credit union more than usual. And one day, when I was shopping in Escanaba, I saw him in a restaurant and he was with a woman.”

“Who was he with?”

“Sue Nenonen”

“But she helps with the books at the credit union and he’s an accountant. It could have been strictly professional.”

“Yes, that’s true. And when you followed him, you didn’t see him around the credit union or with Sue.” I could hear in her voice how bad she wanted to believe in Tony’s loyalty to her. “You didn’t, did you?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Even now I couldn’t tell Lyla about the tryst I’d semi-witnessed at the hunting blind. She needed to hold on to a few good memories of the cheating bum. If only I had kept my eyes on the blind instead of letting nature call, I’d know who the woman was. Had it been Dave’s wife, Sue?

After reassuring Lyla that I’d do everything possible to catch Tony’s killer, I replayed the tape I’d run in the woods while scooting on my belly.

“I don’t believe you,” the woman had said. The sound wasn’t crisp and clear. She’d lowered her voice, and she was angry.

“I’ll take care of it,” Tony had said. “We’ll be together soon.”

“I’ve heard that before.” Then giggling and they had made up the good old-fashion way.

I played the tape back several times. Was Sue the woman in the woods?

I called Sue and Dave’s home number, hoping Sue wasn’t already at the credit union crunching numbers. She picked up the phone on the second ring.

“This is a representative for the Elizabeth Taylor perfume company,” I said to her, holding the recording unit as close as possible to the receiver. I wished I had a telephone hookup for my recorder. It would have simplified the process. “You’ve won a year’s supply of White Diamond perfume.

“Is this a joke?” she asked. “I didn’t enter a contest.”

“Your significant other must have signed you up for the drawing.”

“Dave?”

“Your significant other .” I put enough emphasize on ‘other’ to send the proper message. “You know what I mean.”

Sue hung up.

I replayed the tryst talk from the woods, then my perfume contest chat with Sue, but the sound was garbled. I couldn’t hear Sue at all. Remembering her voice from the few sentences she had uttered before hanging up, I didn’t think she was the woman in the woods. But a person’s voice is changed slightly both through a phone connection and when replayed on a recording unit.

I couldn’t say absolutely positively that it wasn’t Sue.

Now what?

I played the tape over and over until I was fairly certain I could identify the voice if I ever heard it again. Then I called Laura Deland’s house. “This is Laura,” she said into her end of the phone when I asked for Laura.

“This is Gertie. I thought I’d stop by and talk to Shirley.”

“She’s gone. You just missed her.”

“Gone as in moved? Or gone like to the store?”

“She left for lower Michigan.”

“But she didn’t take any of her things from her house.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, I…uh…I’m there right now.”

“WHAT?”

“I needed a place to stay.” Something was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that. Laura’s tone changed from friendly and helpful to wary and cunning. Something else was wrong, too, but I couldn’t place it.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t want people in her house,” Laura said. I could tell she didn’t like it one bit. Was breaking and entering on my list of pending criminal charges yet? I couldn’t remember.

“I was just leaving,” I said. “Sorry to have missed her.”

I sat and stared at the phone. Then I replayed the tape, listening hard to the woman’s voice. Laura Deland’s voice was a dead-on match with the one from the woods.

I WASN’T EXACTLY SURE WHAT to do with my new insight. That sweet young reporter just couldn’t have been dallying around with Tony Lento. She was beautiful. She could get any man she wanted. Why Tony? It had to be a mistake.

And why did I tell her where I was? Now I’d have to vacate my last remaining hideout. Or did I? She was a reporter. Was she required to protect me, or was it optional? I didn’t know anything about news reporter ethics.

I calmed down and thought it through, but all I came up with were more questions. Were Tony and Laura planning to run away with the credit union’s money? Did Bob kill Kent to keep him quiet? Did Tony kill Bob to silence him, too? Were the two love birds trying to set up Shirley by planting orange shoes in her house? Or was Shirley part of the scheme?

The most perplexing question of all might never be answered. Why did the robber steal Monopoly money instead of real hundred dollar bills?

I turned off the coffee pot, but didn’t try to cover my tracks by cleaning up. I had to confront Laura in person, force her to listen to the tape. She had some explaining to do. I’d get the truth out of her if I had to torture it out of her. I still had my weapons arsenal and I hadn’t used my stun gun recently. My trigger finger was itchy.

____________________

I was backing out of Shirley’s driveway when George pulled in behind me, blocking my escape. I stayed where I was, palming my pepper spray, while he strode up to the truck window. If he yanked the door open or made any other aggressive gesture, he was getting it full on, no holds barred.

“Dickey got a call-in tip a few minutes ago,” he said through the crack I’d made in the window. “He’s rounding up his volunteers and then he’ll head over here.”

“You came to warn me?” I could have cried. What a wonderful man. And I was about to assault him with my pepper spray!

George nodded. “I’ll have to circle around and come back over with them, or else they might suspect something’s up.”

Laura hadn’t wasted any time calling in the troops after she found out where I was. “I don’t have any place to go,” I said.

“Is it time to turn yourself in, Gertie? I’m sure we can find the truth.”

“Never! Dickey’s a dope. And I have a few loose ends that might tie up the entire case, if only I can work them.”

“We don’t have much time then. You need to go. Do what you have to do and meet me at my place later.”

“I have a habit of ruining my friend’s lives. I’m a curse. You don’t want to get involved with me.”

George grinned. “I can’t wait to get involved with you. Now go.”

“What happened to Fred?” I called out the window as he ran back to his truck.