Софи Келли - A Night's Tail

“They have a jazz band,” Ethan said. “Your friend Ruby said I should definitely hear the drummer.”

Derek smirked. “And Milo thinks your friend Ruby is cute.”

That pretty much explained everything.

One of Marcus’s former colleagues on the police force was in town and some of the guys were going out with him. Marcus was going to be the designated driver. He stopped in on his way out to The Brick.

“I feel like I’ve barely seen you in the last week between this case and the one that’s on trial, plus all the extra hockey practices.” The high school girl’s hockey team had advanced to the state final. He wrapped his arms around me as we stood in the porch.

“I know,” I said. “I’m so happy to have had all this time with Ethan and I’m going to miss him like crazy when he leaves, but I do miss seeing you.” I kissed him and over his shoulder Owen winked into view on the bench where Hercules usually sat.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said as he let me go and turned around. He started at the sight of Owen, sitting there with his head cocked to one side in seemingly innocent curiosity, looking at me.

“I walked right by Owen and didn’t even see him.” He gave his head a shake. “I think I really should get my eyes checked.”

“Maybe when this case is over,” I said. That seemed to be my answer to a lot of things.

Owen continued to eye me even after Marcus was gone.

“I’m going to tell him,” I said, a little more sharply than I’d intended.

Owen gave what sounded like a snort of derision and disappeared again.

The house seemed too quiet and I was at loose ends. I took some muffins out of the freezer. I brushed off my boots. I vacuumed cat hair off the stairs. Finally, I got out my laptop and sat on the sofa in the living room.

Zach Redmond was everywhere on social media. He liked action movies, spicy Buffalo wings and rock climbing if the pictures he posted were any indication. And he was working.

I could drive up to The Brick, I realized. I could talk to him. I could get some answers.

The place was quiet when I got there. Zach looked up and smiled as I approached the bar. I ordered ginger ale and a plate of onion rings. The rings were almost as good as the fries.

“So what are you doing here on a Wednesday night all by yourself?” he asked with that pretty-boy smile. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I wanted to ask you a question,” I said.

“If you’re asking for my phone number or a piece of my heart you can have both,” he said, pressing one hand to his chest.

His flirting was so obvious I laughed in spite of myself. Zach could be charming in a clueless-little-boy way.

“You saw the altercation between Lewis Wallace and my friend,” I said. “The other night when I was here you said something about karma catching up with Wallace. What did you mean?”

At first he didn’t say anything. I waited, knowing most people didn’t like the silence and would end up saying something to fill it.

“Aww, what the hell. I guess there’s no point in keeping it a secret now. I’ve already told the cops. Wallace was about to be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. I had copies of a lot of the paperwork from my grandfather’s business. I gave them pretty much everything, and that, along with a bunch of other stuff, was pretty much going to put Wallace out of business and behind bars in an orange jumpsuit.”

“Redmond Signs was your grandfather’s business,” I said. “In Red Wing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Wallace and his buddies put it out of business.”

“Why were you at the hotel the night he died?”

He looked away. I was afraid he was going to walk away as well. I put a hand on his arm to keep him there and waited.

“I went because I wanted to gloat that he was going to be brought down,” he finally said. “But I didn’t talk to him.”

I frowned. “What do you mean? He wasn’t there?”

Zach shook his head. “Oh, he was there. He was standing in one of the hallways arguing with someone. I couldn’t see who it was and I didn’t hear the other person talk.” He’d been looking down but now he met my gaze head-on. “I didn’t kill him if that’s what you think. I left then. I realized how stupid what I’d been going to do was. He was alive when I left and I have an alibi for after that.” He cleared his throat. “There’s this girl I’ve seen a few times. I was with her.” His eyes flicked away for a moment and then came back. “At church. She volunteers overnight a couple of times a month at the shelter they run.”

Church. Zach had been at church. That alibi was just far-fetched enough to be true.

I spent a few minutes at lunchtime on the computer trying to track down Lewis Wallace’s ex-wife, Julie Kendall. I didn’t have much luck. I had no idea if she was still in the Montreal area or somewhere else in Canada. I wasn’t even sure what last name she was using. For all I knew she could have remarried. There had to be a better way of finding her.

Mary walked by my door carrying a stapler. An idea began to spin in my mind. I shut off the computer and went downstairs.

I found Mary at the front desk stapling a report for a slightly panicked teenage boy. “There,” she said. “Next time don’t leave things until the last minute.”

“Yes, Mrs. Lowe,” the boy said. Then he jammed the paper in his backpack and headed for the door.

Mary shook her head and turned to me. “I’m trying not to think about the fact that someday that child will be running the world.” She smiled. “What can I do for you?”

“I have a proposition for Bridget.”

“And you want me to put in a good word for you?”

“I was actually hoping you’d get her on the phone so I wouldn’t have to go through her assistant.”

I waited for Mary to ask what my proposition was, but she didn’t. Instead she reached for the phone. “Hi, kiddo,” she said when Bridget answered. “I’m with Kathleen and she has a proposal for you. I think you should listen to her.” She handed me the phone.

“Hello, Bridget,” I said.

“Hi, Kathleen,” she replied. “Mom says you want to talk to me about something?”

I braced one hand against the counter. “I do. I know you must be digging into Lewis Wallace’s background. Did you know he had an ex-wife?”

“No, I didn’t,” she said.

I’d been counting on that. The Mayville Heights Chronicle may have been an award-winning newspaper but like most papers these days it had to do more with less. Without Burtis’s magazines I wouldn’t have known Julie Kendall’s name.

“How would you like her name along with the name of the last city I can confirm she lived in?”

“What’s in it for you?” Like her mother, Bridget was direct.

“I know you have a source connected with the police department, so I know you’ll be able to get this information eventually. I’m giving you a way to get it now. In return, all I want is the woman’s contact information. You have sources I don’t. You can find her a lot faster than I can.”

“What’s her name?”

“We have a deal?” I asked.

“We have a deal,” Bridget said.

I gave her Julie Kendall’s name and my cell number.

“I’ll be in touch,” she said.

I ended the call and handed the phone back to Mary.

“Does Marcus know about this?” she said. “Or is this don’t ask, don’t tell?”

“If he asks, I’ll tell,” I said. I was really hoping he didn’t ask.

The text came at four thirty. Just a phone number. Since I was still at work I decided to wait until after supper to call it.

I stopped at the St. James on my way home. Melanie had called. The chef had made a test batch of Eric’s maple cookies. She wanted me to try one before she called Patricia. It had been the kind of day that would benefit from having a cookie or two added to it, so I said yes.