Кэти Дэйли - The Case Of The Cupid Caper

I leaned my head against the wall behind me, closed my eyes, and let my mind wander. I knew that Mayor White had moved to Foxtail Lake several years ago, although I didn’t know specifically how many years. I knew that he was divorced with teenage children he saw occasionally, and I knew that he had been intent on a career in politics since the moment he’d arrived in town. I knew he ran for a position on the town council, and once he had his foot in the door, he ran for mayor. I knew that he was a progressive thinker who’d been intent on bringing new business to the area, and it seemed as if he was willing to use any means required to reach his goals.

As for Dale, I knew he had also been a resident of Foxtail Lake for several years. Like Mayor White, I didn’t know exactly when he showed up on the scene, but I realized it might be important to find out. I also wondered where each of the men had lived before moving to Foxtail Lake. I was pretty sure that Tom had said Dale was from Chicago. Of course, I also remembered that Dale Conover wasn’t his real name.

Cass was focusing on the professional relationship between the two men, but I had to wonder if they’d known each other before moving to the area. If they had, that might lead to another avenue of inquiry to explore.

I figured Cass probably knew the specifics as to when each of the victims moved to the area and where each of the men had moved from, but it was early, and I hated to wake him if he wasn’t up. I had the names of both men, so I figured it would be easy enough to do a computer search. I set the cat aside and wandered over to the desk I used as a makeshift office. I logged onto my computer and started with a search for Doctor Dale Conover. I remembered that he’d been referred to as Doctor Conover, which most likely meant that he had a Ph.D. since I was pretty sure he hadn’t obtained a medical degree.

The only thing that came up for Doctor Conover was information relating to his life after moving to Foxtail Lake. I tried to remember his name before he moved to the area. Glen. I was pretty sure his name had been Glen. I thought back to my conversation with Tom. I seemed to remember that he mentioned his last name, as well. Glen Baxter? No, that wasn’t right. But it had started with a B. Brown? Blake? Bronson? Breeland? Tom had said that when Dale had lived in Chicago before the incident with Clay Barrow, he’d been going by the name Glen Breeland. I typed that name into the computer, and sure enough, there were several mentions of Doctor Glen Breeland and the Breeland Clinic. It appeared he’d had a large practice when he lived and worked in Chicago. Much larger than what he had now. Again, I had to wonder why he hadn’t simply moved to another large city rather than settling in tiny Foxtail Lake.

Once I confirmed that Dale was from Chicago, I did a search for Frank White in Chicago. Unfortunately, there were multiple Frank White’s in Chicago. I was going to need more to determine if our Frank White was one of the men listed.

I’d thought I could do a search on my own, but perhaps I needed Cass’s help after all. Deciding a text wouldn’t wake him if he’d slept in, I sent him a message asking him to call me when he had the opportunity. I was surprised when he called right away.

“You’re up early,” he greeted.

“You are as well.”

“I never went to bed. At least not officially. I did fall asleep at my desk for a few hours. So what’s up?”

“I’m just sitting here in the attic going over my day with Alastair, and I got to thinking about the two murder cases. I found myself wondering if the two men might have known each other before moving to Foxtail Lake. I know both men have been described as moving to the area several years ago. I remember that Doctor Conover was from Chicago, but I wasn’t sure where Frank White lived before moving to the area.”

“You are correct in that Dale Conover did move to Foxtail Lake from Chicago five years ago. His real name is Glen Breeland, but he changed his name after the incident with Clay Barrow. Mayor White first moved to the area about five years ago as well. I know he was on the council for two years before running for mayor, and he’s been mayor for a little over two years. I’m actually not sure where he lived before moving to our mountain oasis, but now that you mention it, I do think that would be good information to have. I’ll look into it.”

“So, if you’ve been working all night, have you come up with any new leads?” I wondered.

“I’ve managed to piece together a bit more of our confetti puzzle. It looks like Mayor White had been meeting with Dale Conover to discuss something having to do with someone named Mike. One of White’s children is named Mike, so their sessions might have been nothing more scandalous than a father concerned about his child.”

I frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a motive for murder. Are you sure the Mike referred to is the son and not a different Mike?”

“Actually, I’m not. I found one intact section of one piece of paper that talked about not knowing what to do about Mike, but most of the notes Conover kept relating to his sessions with the mayor have been burned. I’m still hoping to find his computer files, but so far, I haven’t had any luck with the laptop, and a link to his online files wasn’t found on his tablet.”

“This whole thing is pretty frustrating.”

“It has been,” Cass agreed. “I did find a file relating to one of Conover’s other patients, the man with the aggression issues. There was enough information to provide me with a name, which I was able to follow up with. The man is a real tool, and he definitely has a chip on his shoulder, but he also has an alibi for the time of the house fire at Conover’s residence.”

“So, you’re still following the leads that seem to pertain only to Conover?”

“I’m following any lead I come up with relating to either man at this point. I will admit that I don’t have a lot, but I know from experience that if you dig deep enough and wait long enough, something will eventually float to the surface.”

“So, who do you have left on your suspect list?” I wondered.

“Lissa is still on the initial suspect list I created for Conover. I know that it seems that as his girlfriend, she wouldn’t want to do him harm, but there are a lot of little things that aren’t adding up for me about their relationship. I will admit that as far as I can tell, she didn’t have a single reason to kill Mayor White, but until I can prove otherwise, she stays on the list.”

“I agree there was something odd going on there. Who else do you have?”

“The only other person on Conover’s list at this point is someone having to do with Clay Barrow , but now that I have his calendar, I’m going to go back and contact everyone I can identify who may have met with Conover during the past month. As for White, there are a lot of folks unhappy about the job he was doing as mayor. I’m not sure anyone was upset enough to actually kill the guy, but I do plan to ask around.”

“And you don’t have anyone showing up on both lists?” I asked.

“Not so far, but like I said, I plan to keep digging.”

“Did you ever figure out who it was Dale met with right before his death? I think you said his calendar indicated it was someone referred to as Tolley.”

“Yes, I did manage to track down Conover’s last patient. She was a new patient. I think she’d only been seeing him for a few weeks. She had nothing but good things to say about the guy. I didn’t pick up any sort of homicidal maniac vibe.”

“I guess the idea that the last patient seen by Conover was the killer was a long shot. By the way, are we supposed to refer to the individuals seen by Conover as clients or patients?”