Payback in Paxton Park, page 4
part #4 of Paxton Park Mystery Series
“What was it about?” Jay asked.
“Stupid things. Grant has a hard time doing things around the house. I have to nag him to get things done. I can’t be the one who does it all. I’ve told him again and again. I work full-time, too.” Emmy’s expression was tinged with defensiveness.
“Of course,” Jay said kindly. “If everyone pitches in, a household runs more smoothly.”
Emmy sat up a little straighter. “That’s right. That’s what I mean. I told him so.”
“Did you know Benny Little?” Jay asked.
“Sure. I knew him. Poor Benny.” Emmy shook her head slowly.
“Did he and Grant get along?”
“They were pals.”
“Did they socialize after work?”
“Sometimes they’d get a drink, watch a game on TV. Sometimes they’d get together with some of the other resort employees. I’d go once in a while, but not much. I don’t like sports or outside activities.”
“Was there anything bothering Grant?” Shelly asked. “Was he worried about anything?”
Emmy blinked fast a few times. “I don’t think so.”
Shelly asked a more specific question. “Did he say anything about work? Was anything going on at work that was bothering Grant?”
“No. Grant liked his job.” Emmy ran her hand over the dog’s fur.
“How long had you and your husband been married?” Jay asked.
“Ten years. We got married young.”
“How would you describe the marriage?”
Emmy’s large blue eyes got bigger. “What do you mean?”
“Was the marriage strong? Were you both happy in the marriage?” Jay asked.
Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, the woman said, “It was normal.”
“Normal happy?” Jay asked.
“I guess so.” Emmy leaned back a little. “We were married ten years. We dated for four years before that. You know. Things change.”
“Was your husband faithful?”
“Yeah. Mostly.” Emmy pushed at her thin bangs.
“Were you faithful to Grant?” Jay asked.
The woman’s eyes flashed. “What’s this stuff got to do with anything?”
Jay’s face maintained a neutral expression and she kept an easy tone of voice. “We’re trying to determine your husband’s state of mind. If anything had upset him, if he was unhappy or angry or worried about something. If he might have had a disagreement or an argument with someone. If money was tight. Things that might cause stress. Things like that.”
“Have you ever had an affair?” Officer Walton asked.
“No. Not an affair.” Emmy’s lips pursed.
“Did you see someone for a time?” Walton asked.
Emmy looked away and turned her gaze out of the living room window. “Once I did. I saw a guy for a couple of months, but then I ended it.”
“Why did you decide to end it?” Walton questioned.
“I didn’t really like him. He was sort of boring.”
“Did Grant know you were seeing someone?” Jay asked.
“He knew.” The corners of Emmy’s mouth pulled downward. “Grant didn’t care. He didn’t want me to leave him, but he didn’t care about a fling once in a while. Why would he? What was good for him, was good for me, too.”
Shelly was slightly surprised by the woman’s comments. When they first arrived at the small cottage tucked onto a piece of land at the base of the mountain, she’d expected a grieving wife who had lost her young husband. Emmy was grieving, but a good amount of her emotion seemed based on financial concerns, and not on the loss of someone she loved.
“So Grant occasionally engaged in a fling?” Shelly asked.
“Sure he did. You can ask that bookkeeper at the barn. Grant had the hots for her.”
“Who do you mean?” Jay asked, but had a good idea who Emmy meant.
“That bookkeeper. Shannon. Shannon Flay.” A pout formed on the woman’s face.
“Were they seeing each other now?” Jay asked.
“I think they stopped about a month ago.” Emmy raised the mangled tissue to dab at her eyes.
“Why did they stop seeing each other?” Officer Walton asked.
“Who knows? Maybe Grant got tired of her. We didn’t talk about that kind of stuff.”
“Did it bother you that your husband saw other women?” Walton asked.
“Once in a while it did.”
“So you had an open relationship of sorts?” Jay asked.
Emmy exhaled. “Sort of.”
“Did Grant end the relationship with Shannon or was she the one who decided to end it?” Shelly asked.
For a split second, a flash of anger, or maybe annoyance showed on the woman’s face. “I have no idea. I told you Grant and I didn’t talk about stuff like that.”
Jay asked, “Can you tell us about yesterday morning? Was it a normal morning?”
Emmy blinked at the police officer. “A normal day. Yes. I got up first, showered, went to the kitchen for breakfast. Grant got up and showered. I made lunches. Grant came in and complained that we were out of his favorite cereal. I told him he could have picked some up on his way home the day before. Everything wasn’t my job.” Emmy sighed. “We bickered at each other until I left for work. Over nothing. Silly things. I feel bad that was the way it was the last time we were together.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
When Emmy batted away the moisture on her face, Shelly asked, “What did Grant use to take his lunch to work?”
Emmy gave Shelly a look like she thought she was crazy. “You mean his lunch box?”
Shelly nodded. “What did it look like?”
Tilting her head to the side, she said, “Black metal. Kind of banged up. Why?”
“I saw a lunch box like that in the breakroom refrigerator. I wondered if it belonged to Grant.”
Officer Walton leaned forward and looked at Shelly with an odd expression, but he didn’t say anything.
“Did Grant have any enemies?” Jay asked.
“Enemies? There were some people he didn’t like. Some people didn’t like him.”
“What caused the disagreements?”
“It was just guys being guys. Someone would make a comment and the other person would take offense,” Emmy said.
“Did Grant get into physical fights with people?”
“When he was in his early twenties he did. Not much now.”
Jay held her pen over the notebook page. “Did Grant mention anyone who was bothering him recently? Anyone he thought was a pain in some way?”
Emmy scrunched up her face in thought. “There was a guy at work. He’s new. Grant said he was full of himself, acted like he knew everything. The guy didn’t like to hear any suggestions about how to do things. Grant said he didn’t like him.”
“What was the man’s name?” Shelly asked.
“Something starting with an F. Finny? I think that’s it. Yeah.”
“He works at the barn?” Walton asked.
“I think so,” Emmy said. “Yeah, he does.”
“Can you think of anything else we should know?” Jay asked.
“Will you catch who killed Grant and Benny?” Emmy’s face hardened.
“We’ll do everything we can to bring someone to justice for the killings,” Walton said.
Emmy leaned down and put her cheek against her dog’s soft fur. “I don’t care about justice. I care that the killer dies in prison for what he did. Grant was no saint, but he didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve to die like that. He was gunned down like a dog. He was at work. He was doing his job. It’s not right what happened. Grant and Benny woke up and went to work just like every other day. They got killed by some monster who was stealing the safe.” Tears started to flow again and dropped onto the dog’s back. “It just isn’t right.”
7
After leaving Grant and Emmy Norris’s house, Shelly rode in the backseat of the police car with Jay driving and Porter Walton in the passenger seat.
Shelly could feel the anxiety gripping her stomach as Jay maneuvered the car through the twists and turns in the country road.
Looking into the rearview mirror into the backseat, Jay asked, “Are you okay, Shelly?”
Porter turned slightly to look behind. “Is something wrong?”
“Shelly gets car sick sometimes.” Jay covered for the young woman’s anxiety knowing she probably didn’t want to get into a discussion about the accident that killed her sister and left Shelly with a limp and pain in her leg.
“Oh,” Porter said. “Do we need to stop? Do you need some air?”
“I’m okay,” Shelly said and decided to make conversation to distract her from the ride. “How is the office manager doing? He was pretty shaken up when we went to see him the other evening.”
Jay said, “After we left the house, Troy’s wife took him to the hospital. The doctor prescribed a tranquilizer. He’ll be out of work for a few weeks. Finding the bodies hit him hard.”
“Was he good friends with Grant and Benny?” Shelly asked.
“Friendly was how he described it,” Jay said.
“I hope the passing of time will help Troy better handle what happened.” Shelly rubbed at her temples wishing she could exit the vehicle. She’d rather walk for miles than be trapped inside a car.
“What did you think of the interview with Grant’s wife?” Porter asked.
“It wasn’t what I was expecting,” Shelly admitted. “I thought Emmy would be heartbroken over Grant. I guess she was in a way, just not the way I thought.”
“She was honest though,” Porter said. “Even though the marriage wasn’t picture-perfect, she still seemed fond of Grant. She’s worried about money. She might struggle without his paycheck, but she’ll probably sue the resort so in the end, she might make out okay.”
“They seemed to have an understanding with one another that worked for them,” Jay said. “Neither one got too hung up when the other one was seeing someone else. The both ignored the other’s indiscretions. Being married to each other was probably comfortable and convenient.”
“Yeah,” Porter said. “They could have their flings, but could use the fact they were married to keep the affairs casual and non-committal.” The police officer turned his head a little and addressed Shelly. “Why did you ask Emmy about that lunch box?”
Shelly shrugged. “I saw it in the refrigerator. I was trying to imagine Grant and Benny’s morning, what they did, where they were at what time. I was picturing their movements that morning so I asked if the lunchbox I saw belonged to Grant.”
“Does it have some significance?” Porter asked.
“I guess not.” Shelly clutched her hands together in her lap, counting the minutes until she got dropped off at her house.
“We’ll be needing to talk with Shannon Flay,” Jay said. “From what Emmy said, Grant and Shannon were close, at least they were at one time.”
“I wonder if Shannon owns a gun?” Porter asked.
Shelly’s eyes widened. “Shannon? You think she may have killed the men?”
“The woman knew what was in the safe,” Porter pointed out. “She may have held a grudge against Grant. Maybe she enlisted a friend to help her remove the safe and get rid of Grant. Benny was just collateral damage.”
Shelly groaned.
“It’s all possible,” Jay said. “We’ll have a chat with her.”
“According to Emmy, Grant didn’t get along with the new guy at work. What was his name?” Porter asked.
“Finny,” Shelly replied.
“He’ll need to be interviewed as well.” Porter looked out the side window at the countryside. “It sure is pretty here. Much nicer than working in the city.” The man snorted. “I thought a resort town might be boring, with not much investigatory work necessary. Guess I was wrong.”
Jay traveled down the quaint main street of Paxton Park and made the turn onto Shelly’s lane, stopping at her rented cottage.
“Pretty house,” Porter remarked.
“Thanks.” Shelly pushed the door open eager to get out, thanked Jay for the ride, told the law enforcement officers she’d see them soon, and then hurried to her front porch, little beads of sweat trickling down her back.
Juliet lived next door to Shelly and had been waiting for her to come home. When she heard the car door slam, she went outside to meet her friend. “How did it go?”
Shelly stopped before opening her door. “It was okay, but the car ride almost did me in. Want to come in while I change?”
Justice was waiting inside. She flicked her tail around and rubbed against the young women’s legs and then followed Shelly into the bedroom and sat on the bed while her owner changed.
“Tell me about the interview.” Juliet had made tea and set two mugs on the table while Shelly went over what had been said at the meeting with Emmy Norris.
“At least the conversation brought up two more people who need to be interviewed,” Juliet said. “Grant and the bookkeeper had an affair, huh? Shannon Flay is going to have to be very upfront when she talks to police to avoid becoming a suspect.”
“I feel like there’s something we’re missing.” Shelly ran her finger over the rim of her cup.
“Like what?”
With a smile, Shelly said, “If I knew, I’d look into it.”
“Is it a vague feeling or are you in a certain place or talking to someone in particular when the sensation strikes?” Juliet asked.
“Vague, I guess. I can’t connect it to anyone or any place.”
“If it’s important, you’ll figure it out,” Juliet said encouragingly.
Shelly pushed back from the table. “I need a break. I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”
“Let’s go then.”
The two friends barreled down the trails on fat-tire bikes – the wide tires provided extra grip and traction and a wider contact surface on difficult terrain like snowy mountain trails allowing riders to travel over the paths in most any weather. Riding up the hills was harder, but for the two young women being outside under the snow-covered evergreens enjoying nature was worth the effort.
Once they reached the flatter section of the trails, Shelly and Juliet rode side-by-side.
“I needed that.” Shelly’s pink cheeks glowed from the exercise. “I love being able to bike in the winter. With the snow cover, everything is so quiet and peaceful.”
“It’s perfect,” Juliet said. “I led a group over the trails this morning. They loved it. There are more tourists here this year than ever.” She gave a smile and a chuckle. “Which means job security for me.”
“All the activities the resort offers really brings in the guests. The skiing, sledding, toboggan course, skating, the tubing hill, these fat bikes. Everyone can find something fun to do here.”
Juliet nodded. “Management has been smart about expanding the options. They’ve done a great job.”
A breeze kicked up and shook some of the branches hanging over the trail sending snow off the pines down onto the young women’s heads like a tiny avalanche. Getting pummeled by the snowfall caused the two to howl with laughter.
After brushing the snow from their bike helmets, Juliet started off at a face pace. “Come on. Race you to the top.”
Off they went, pedaling like maniacs.
Juliet took the corner fast and her bike skidded on some snow-covered ice, almost toppling before she was able to right it again.
Shelly watched her friend’s gyrations and chuckled. “Nice save.”
Pulling to the side of the trail, they stopped for a water break and to catch their breath. Despite the late afternoon sun shining between the pines, the air was crisp and cold and Shelly’s lungs burned a little from breathing in the freezing air.
From their position on the trail, they could look down on the skiers as they made their way along the manicured slopes toward the main lodge of the resort. The colorful jackets and ski pants on the skiers looked festive against the white snow.
Juliet gestured past some bare branches. “You can see the barn from here.”
A shiver ran down Shelly’s back. “No one is working in there yet, are they?”
“The police are letting the employees back inside tomorrow. I bet they’re not looking forward to that.”
“I know I wouldn’t be.” Shelly scanned the building and the grounds with a sense of dread. “Did Jay mention anything about the security tape the investigators took from the roof?”
Juliet frowned. “It was exactly as Jay said it would be.”
“The camera wasn’t working?”
“No, it worked. It just captured nothing. It was aimed at the lot where the equipment is parked and the robber didn’t go anywhere near there.”
“He must have known to avoid the lot,” Shelly guessed. “He must have been aware there was a camera pointed in that direction.”
“Or somebody told him about it,” Juliet suggested.
“Why would the robber kill two men over the money in the safe? It wasn’t a million dollars or anything.”
“My guess is because Grant and Benny saw his face.”
“No disguise?” Shelly asked. “If the thief knew there was a lot of money in the safe, then they would know what time the workers arrived. Troy Broadmoor overslept. He was supposed to be at work an hour before he actually arrived. Why wasn’t the robber gone by then?”
“The chiseling must have taken longer than he thought. He probably felt he couldn’t just abandon the safe. He’d done a lot of work to get it out. He must have been determined to finish the job.”
“Would you carry a gun to steal a safe?” Shelly asked.
Juliet’s forehead scrunched up. “What do you mean?”
“If you were only going to steal a safe from a building, would you bring a gun along? If you did, you must have had the idea you would have to shoot someone, right?”
“Unless the robber only wanted to use it to frighten someone who happened upon him.”
“Why didn’t he wear a disguise?” Shelly asked. “Why didn’t he just run away? No. Instead, he shot two men in cold blood. It seems kind of desperate to me.”
