Casey Mayes - A Killer Column

“That should clear me of the attempt on Kelsey,” Brady said. “I wouldn’t hurt her for anything in the world.”

“But you might hurt Derrick,” Jenny said.

“What do you mean? Whoever killed Derrick went after Kelsey, too. You just said so.”

“Not necessarily,” I said, taking Jenny’s point to heart. “They could be entirely different events, one a deliberate act and the other simply an accident.”

“Trust me, it was no accident,” Kelsey said. “I felt someone shove me hard toward the bus. If Brady hadn’t grabbed me, I would be dead.”

“Hang on a second,” I said. “Did you tell the police that Brady was there with you?”

She shook her head. “No. We decided they didn’t need to know who saved me.”

A thought occurred to me, something I didn’t want to voice at the moment. Had Brady shoved her, for whatever reason, and then gotten cold feet and pulled her back to safety at the last second? It would make him look like a hero, and divert suspicion away from him as Derrick’s murderer. The only problem with that line of reasoning was that everyone would have to know what he’d done, and they were keeping quiet about it, at least for the moment.

“Savannah, what do you think?” Jenny asked me, and I realized that someone had just asked me a question. I’d been thinking about the ramifications about what I’d just learned, and I’d completely missed it.

“I’m sorry, I got distracted.”

Jenny said, “They want to know if they should tell the police that Brady was with Kelsey today.”

“No, I wouldn’t say a word. At least not yet,” I said, watching their reactions.

Kelsey seemed fine with it, but Brady looked a little surprised. What did that mean?

“Fine, we’ll keep quiet,” Kelsey said. She looked at me, and then asked, “Savannah, is there something else on your mind?”

“Maybe I’ve been married too long to a good cop, but something just occurred to me.”

“What’s that?”

“Brady, I’m sorry, but this just gives you one more motive for killing Derrick.”

He looked honestly surprised by that claim. “Where do you get that, Savannah?”

“We all know how Derrick treated people, and he was no different with Kelsey. What kind of boyfriend could just stand by while he verbally abused her like he did? Added to that, you got her this job, so you were directly responsible for putting her in the line of fire.”

Brady’s face began to darken, and I was starting to see a side of him I hadn’t witnessed before. “I didn’t kill him,” he said, nearly growling the words out.

“Take it easy,” I said, suddenly wishing that I’d let Zach join us after all. Brady wasn’t much physically, but the look in his eyes made him seem dangerous. “I’m not saying anything the police won’t think when they find out you and Kelsey are dating.”

“But you said we shouldn’t tell them,” Kelsey said.

“You know what? I just changed my mind.”

“Why should we do their work for them?” Brady asked.

“Because it’s going to sound better coming from you two than them hearing it from someone else, and believe me, they will. In this day and age, one of the toughest things in the world to keep is a secret.”

“It’s none of their business,” Brady said with a surly edge in his voice.

“I’m afraid that when it comes to murder, everything is fair game,” Jenny said.

“I could go get Zach,” I said. “He’s right downstairs.” Not only was my offer a valid one, but I wanted Brady to know that my husband was just a short distance away.

“Don’t do anything. I need to think about it,” Brady said.

Kelsey stroked his arm lightly. “They’re right. It’s the best thing to do, given the circumstances.”

I had another question I wanted to ask him, but it required some diplomacy if I was wrong about my assumption. I needed to get my new boss out of hearing range. “Kelsey, I’m afraid I’m feeling a bit woozy. Could you get me a glass of water?”

“Of course, Savannah.”

She went back into Brady’s room to get my water, and I stepped close to him and said softly, “While she’s gone, I need to ask you something. Don’t lie to me. Are you having an affair with Cary Duncan?”

Chapter 18

“ WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”

“I saw you yesterday going to her room with a bouquet of flowers, and you were still there when I left the Brunswick later.”

He started laughing, though I failed to see what was so amusing.

“That’s not an answer,” I whispered. “Hurry up, she’s coming back.”

Kelsey came out, handed me the glass of water, and then asked her boyfriend, “Brady? What’s so funny?”

“Savannah thinks I’m having an affair with Cary Duncan,” he said, still clearly amused by my question.

She smiled broadly at me. “Why on earth would you ask him that, Savannah?”

Before I could answer, Brady said, “She saw me going into Cary’s room yesterday with those flowers you picked out.”

“You truly weren’t hitting on her?” I asked.

“No, I was there trying to save Kelsey’s job,” he said. “Cary was having second thoughts about letting Kelsey run things, and I went there to convince her to give Kelsey an honest chance.”

“So, there was no romance,” I said.

“Not with Cary,” he said. “Not in a million years.”

He was still chuckling as I said, “You have to realize what it looked like to me.”

“I suppose so. It’s a pretty funny image, though. Are we finished here now?”

“For the moment,” I said.

After the two of them disappeared back into Brady’s room, Jenny said, “I didn’t see that coming, did you?”

“Not if I’d had a thousand guesses. I wonder if it’s true.”

“What,” Jenny asked, “that they’re dating? They seemed comfortable enough around each other.”

“I didn’t see any sparks though, did you?”

“I’m not sure we would have,” she said. “What should we do next?”

I looked around, and realized that there was one more guest in this hotel who was involved in our case. “Let’s see if Mindi is in her room. She’s in one-nine-one-eight.”

“What are we going to talk to her about?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I will be by the time she comes to the door.”

Jenny laughed. “That’s what I like to see, confidence.”

MINDI WASN’T IN HER ROOM, THOUGH. WE FOUND A housekeeping cart in front of it, and I tapped on the open door as one of the maids came out.

“Excuse me, but do you know if Mindi Mills is still staying here?”

The maid frowned as she said, “There’s nothing here. I got a note to clean this room and that the previous guest had checked out.”

“Any idea when she left?”

She checked her list again, and then said, “Three hours ago. Can I help you with something?”

“No, thanks,” I said. “I’ll catch up with her later.”

We walked back to the elevator, and after I hit the down button, I asked Jenny, “Where do you suppose she went?”

“Back to Richmond?” she asked.

“I guess so, but I thought Murphy asked everyone involved with the case to stay in town.”

“He couldn’t order them to, though, not without more reason than he had. If he let her go, then I guess we’ll have to mark her off our suspect list, too.”

“Are you kidding? I just moved her up near the top. Running away is the worst thing she could have done. It just makes her look guilty.”

“I suppose it could at that,” Jenny said. “What should we do now?”