Кэти Дэйли - The Case Of The Cupid Caper

“So why invite me to have a front-row seat at his house fire? I mean, she was the one who set the time and place for us to meet.”

“I don’t know. She didn’t say, but you mentioned that she might have used you to create some sort of an alibi.”

“And Dale’s car? Is she the one who left it at the ski resort?” That part made no sense to me.

“I asked her about the car, and she said she wasn’t the one who moved it. She might be lying, but I don’t know why she’d lie about that after confessing to killing two men. At this point, I still don’t know how it got there or why it was left there. I may never know, but I’m not sure it’s important. It could be that Dale went skiing and parked in the lot, but left the car behind at the end of the day for some reason.”

“What reason?”

Cass shrugged. “Maybe it wouldn’t start, or maybe he’d had a lot to drink, so he got a ride and intended to go back for it. There are a number of reasons he might have parked his car in the lot and left it there. I suppose it’s also possible that someone stole it or borrowed it and left it in the lot. As I said, we may never know.”

“Okay, so back to the murders. I guess I understand why Lissa killed Dale, but why did she kill Frank White?”

He took a sip of his iced tea and then held up the glass, indicating he’d like a refill. I got up to refill the glass while he finished off his roast. Once he was done, he continued. “That’s the part I find interesting. She said she really didn’t have a reason and that it just happened. I asked additional questions, but all she really did was offer a few vague answers, which made no sense. Even though this woman admitted to killing two men, and, in fact, had a motive to kill one of the two, by the time the interview came to an end, I was pretty much of the mind that she was lying.”

“Why would anyone lie about killing two people?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe she’s covering for someone.”

“Who?”

“Again, I’m not sure. Margo told me that Lissa told her that Frank White was dead and had been shot. This was before I even knew about his demise, so I am operating under the assumption that she had inside information about his death, but if you stop to think about it, given the timeline, Lissa would have had to have been chatting with Margo and killing Frank at the same time.”

“That’s true.” I realized. “But you did say that you found gasoline in Lissa’s garage. That sounds like she set the fires.”

“I don’t disagree with that, but something seems off to me. I suppose I should be happy I have a confession and simply move on, but I can’t help feeling that the wrong person is sitting in county jail.”

“Okay, I won’t discount your gut feeling, but if Lissa isn’t guilty of killing the two men, who is?”

Cass cleared his throat. “I actually have two theories. In my mind, it seems plausible that she killed Dale and burned down his house, but less plausible that she killed Frank. If she did kill Dale but didn’t kill Frank, I suppose in some twisted way she might have decided that she was going to prison for murder, so what difference would it make to just go ahead and confess to both murders.”

“Yeah, but why would she do that?”

“Like I said before, if this scenario is true, maybe she is covering for whoever killed Frank.”

“Maybe she really did kill Frank for some odd reason we haven’t put together yet,” I pointed out.

“Maybe, but keep in mind that the timeline is off if Lissa is the killer. I asked Lissa about this, and she said that maybe Margo was mistaken about things. I spoke to Margo again, and she told me she is pretty sure of the timeline she described.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in my chair. “This whole thing is absurd. How are you going to find out whether or not Lissa is lying, and if she is, why she is lying?”

“I’ll let her stew on things a bit. She’s going to spend the night in county jail. I’m going to talk to her again tomorrow and see if I can trip her up or get her to change her story.”

Chapter 15

Monday

When I stopped by the newspaper on Monday morning, I was greeted at the door by Gabby, who gave me a big hug.

“I got matched by Ms. Cupid,” she squealed in delight.

“Really?” I grinned in return. “Who’d you get matched with?”

“Cass Wylander.”

My face fell. “Cass?”

She laughed. “No, not Cass. I was just messing with you, but based on your expression when you thought I had been matched to Cass, I’m no longer willing to accept your just friends classification of your relationship. It is obvious you are into him, and he is into you. Why not move things along a bit?”

“I have my reasons. But back to you. Give me all the details.”

“Okay.” Gabby took my hand and led me to her desk. We sat down. “When I logged onto my computer this morning, there was an email from Ms. Cupid. She told me that I’d been matched and a date had been arranged. I’m to show up at the bowling alley on Wednesday at seven-thirty. Once I arrive, I’m to tell the man behind the counter that Ms. Cupid sent me.”

“And you don’t know who you’re supposed to meet?”

She shook her head. “The email didn’t say. It just said when and where to meet. It also said to wear comfortable shoes and to bring a warm jacket. Apparently, the details of the date have been worked out and paid for by Ms. Cupid, and all I have to do is show up. I assume the man I’ve been matched with received a similar email.”

“It seems to be a crazy way to do things, but I guess Ms. Cupid knows what she’s doing. I assume you plan to show up as instructed.”

“Oh yeah. I can’t wait to find out who I’m destined to grow old with.”

“I wonder why she’s keeping the name of your match a secret.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I know that at least some of the matched applicants knew right off who they’d been matched with. It did occur to me that Ms. Cupid might suspect that either I or my match wouldn’t want to date the person selected if not forced into a situation where the date was a done deal. I suppose by not revealing the names until the date takes place, it would lessen the chance that one or both of us would back out.”

“If that’s true, does that make you nervous about what might come next?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I’m not really worried. Even if the guy I’m matched with is someone who I might not have chosen as a date, I’m willing to see how it all works out. In spite of my opinion on the matter to this point, it isn’t like I’m in any way committed to marrying the guy.”

“I guess that’s true. I’m usually free on Wednesday evenings. Maybe I’ll drop by the bowling alley and see who Ms. Cupid selected for you for myself.”

“Stop by, but stay out of the way. I don’t want anything to mess this up for me.”

Dex walked in while I was chatting with Gabby, so I followed him to his office to hand in the two articles I’d written over the weekend. When I told him Ms. Cupid had arranged a date for Gabby, he was almost as excited as she was that she’d been matched. He really did think that an insider’s perspective would be exactly what my series needed to make it seem real to the subscribers who followed it.

“I have another assignment for you this week,” Dex announced. “Two actually. One will be due by Thursday, but the other is a feature that I’d like you to take your time with.”

“Okay. I’m interested. What do you have?” I really hoped that at least one of the two would be an actual news article and not just another fluff piece.

“The article that is due Thursday is an opinion piece about the movement in the area to bring in large resorts. I know you covered the town council meeting last week, where the subject was debated. You did a good job presenting both sides in an unbiased manner. I thought you could expand on that and maybe do some resident interviews. I’m interested in quotes from both sides of the fence. Folks who will either be hurt or helped by an increase in tourism.”