Steele fully anticipated being stonewalled by the staff.
“That smells awful Steele. What the
hell is it?" Steele placed the bucket back in the corner. “It’s the
murder weapon, well what’s left of it. The killer must have waited until they
were asleep or passed out from the booze before mixing bleach and ammonia
together. He or she could have also added the pool chlorine to the mix,
probably poured it over some old rags in that bucket. The two mixed
together produce extremely toxic vapors. A while back some guy tried
unclogging his toilet with bleach and ammonia mixed with drain cleaner, well
let’s just say it didn't end well for him. Whoever did this closed the
window after they left the shed the first time. In a small area like this it
didn't take much time for the toxic fumes to build up. The killer waited
until the deed was done then came back to remove the evidence.
Bleach and ammonia separately, no problem
but when you mix them together especially in a tiny room like this."
Steele shook his head slowly. "The vapors are lethal so
if I'm right the coroners’ report should come back with toxic shock as the
cause of death. The shed is old and has
lots of cracks so by the time the police got inside most of the order had
dissipated. I guess the murderer was in
a hurry to get out so whoever it was either forgot or didn't think it was
necessary to take the bucket with them."
The code of silence he encountered turned
out to be more of a strategy of evasion. Because of the murders Mr.
Matthews had given the staff the day off but since the suspects lived on the
property they really didn't have anywhere else to go. Steele felt as if he had
entered a house full of deaf-mutes, suddenly everyone was far too busy to talk,
everyone except the cook.
Antonio was a heavyset man in his late
fifties. His gray hair and mustache made him look older. Antonio’s
official title was cook but unofficially he was the mansions version of KYW
news. It turned out that Antonio was more like the cook/town gossip.
He was about to prepare supper when Steele
entered the kitchen. The cook smiled when Steele walked in. Antonio
was Italian but it wasn't necessary for him to tell anyone because his accent
was a dead giveaway.
“Ah Mr. Steele, I wondered when you would
get around to visiting me. How can I help you?" The men shook
hands then talked for over an hour. Antonio was a wealth of
information. Steele wasn't sure if gabbing was just in his nature or if
it was the bottle of vino he sipped on every five minutes or so.
“You know Mr. Steele if you scratch just
beneath the surface you will be surprised at what secrets you will uncover
around here. Did you know that Pablo the grounds keeper owed Mrs.
Matthews a lot of money and that she threatened to fire him if he didn’t pay
up? It’s true. He likes to bet on the horses but he’s not the only
gambler in the house.
Audrey, the maid, she plays the Powerball,
never misses a week." A lot of what Antonio talked about was idle gossip
but what Steele found interesting was the cook’s mention of the horse racing
and lottery tickets. Steele pulled out his cell phone and scrolled to the
contents of the trash can inside the shed. Two of the items in the trash
were lottery tickets and a racing form. When Steele asked about any
recent change in staff members’ behavior Antonio perked up. “You know Mr.
Steele now that you mentioned it there was a change. Yesterday Audrey the
maid was on cloud nine, she was singing and smiling all day long but today she
seemed really depressed like the dog just died you know. Maybe it was
because of the murders. Now today Pablo is the one who’s happy as a
clam. I bet it’s because he doesn't have to pay all that money back to
Mrs. Matthews.”
Steele asked the tipsy chef about the mud
on his shoes. Antonio paused as he glanced down. “Oh, ah, I have an
herb garden behind the house. I did some planting earlier, must have
forgotten to wipe my feet.”
On his way to the car Steele took a side
trip to Antonio’s herb garden behind the kitchen. There were no fresh
footprints so at that point the talkative cook moved up a notch on Steele’s
suspect list. Why did the chef lie? Steele also wondered why Antonio was
so eager to throw his co-workers under bus. Since Pablo was the
groundskeeper Steele understood why his racing form would be found inside the
shed but whose lottery tickets were in the trash? Could they have been
the maids?
Steele was always thorough. Before heading
to the club Steele drove downtown to 16th and Spruce. He
wanted to check out the apartment of Sam the deceased pool boy. He didn't
expect to find much of anything but sometimes the smallest of clues could break
a case wide open. The buildings landlady was a middle aged woman who had
heard about the murders on the evening news. She was obviously shaken.
Her voice trembled slightly when she talked about her tenant who was
found murdered.
“Sam was a good kid, well he wasn't
really a kid but he looked young for his age. He was quite the ladies man
if you know what I mean. He seemed excited this morning before he left
for work. I never did find out what he was so jazzed about. You are the first person to come by
today. I expected the cops but they
never came.”
Steele explained that since the murder
took place outside the city limits that the township police would probably have
to go through the Philadelphia Police department before they would come. He asked if she would show him Sam’s
apartment.
The woman paused as she fumbled around
inside the large pockets on her flowered, blue smock. Seconds later she
pulled out a bronze ring of keys and searched for the one labeled 2C.
“Well I guess it doesn't really matter now
does it? I suppose you're here to search the room for clues. Since he wasn't killed here and since nobody
told me not to let you in the apartment I guess its okay as long as you don’t
tell nobody.” Steele was about to answer when the phone rang. The
landlady took the call then handed Steele the key. “This is going to take
a while. Sam didn't have a lot so there ain't much up there to steal and
besides you have an honest face.”
The two things that caught Steele’s
attention when he entered the small apartment’s bedroom were the open window
and the jewelry, lots of expensive jewelry including a Rolex watch.
Clothes were strewn over the bed and chair. There was a beige suitcase on
the floor between the bed and the nightstand. When Steele reached down to
pick up the suitcase he felt a wave of searing pain in the back of his head
then suddenly everything went dark. The next thing he remembered was the superintendent
standing over him with a glass of water.
“Hey mister you alright?” Steele
reached for the back of his head as he sat up on the floor next to the
bed. He winched as he gingerly rubbed the back of his head.
“That’s a nasty bump you got there Mr. Steele.
What the hell’s going on here? Who was that woman and where did all this
jewelry come from?" Still recovering from the whack on head Steele
tried to focus. He managed to sit on the bed and take a few sips of
water.
“What woman” The super seemed surprised by
his question “The women who busted you upside your head a couple of minutes
ago, that woman. It had to have been her. She flew past me in the lobby
faster than Usain Bolt."
Steele got a description of the women from
the landlady. “She was blonde maybe in her mid thirties. I couldn't
see her eyes because she wore dark glasses and she kept her head turned away
from me but she had on a red Phillies baseball cap.”
Steele thanked her for helping him.
He never answered her about the jewelry because he didn't have one. Steele was
just as curious as she was.
One of the advantages of owning your own
club is that you get to make or in this case break the rules whenever it suits
you. Getting blindsided in what was supposed to be an empty apartment did
not put the detective/club owner in the mood for socializing with guest. So
instead of going to the club Steele headed home with a huge headache and a ton
of unanswered questions.
Who was the woman who clocked him?
What was the burglar looking for in Sam’s apartment and why did she leave everything
including the jewelry?
Steele’s best friend Stan wouldn't be back
from New York until tomorrow night so any cyber data mining info Stan
could dig up on the suspects would have to wait.
All the news was not bad, Steele’s job was
not to solve the murders it was to clear Tara ’s
uncle. As long as the killer had no more targets Steele had the luxury of
time on his side.
If the murderer got cold feet and decided to
take off overnight Steele’s job would become a lot easier. At least this
way he would know who the killer was.
All he would have to do is track him down instead of whittling down the hefty
list of suspect at the mansion. On his
way home he received a call from Tara .
“Steele, I wanted you to hear this from me
before you found out yourself. This isn't easy for me to admit but I
caught my Uncle in a lie. Earlier he told me and the police that he was
at a board meeting this morning. Well there was supposed to be a
meeting but it was postponed because the CFO had appendicitis and needed to be
rushed to the University of Pennsylvania for emergency
surgery. When I confronted him he admitted he lied. He spent most of
the morning at the roulette wheel in Atlantic
City . He didn't want his wife to know he was
gambling so he used the meeting as a cover. The problem is he’s a high
roller and uses the VIP entrance where there are no cameras.”
Listening to Tara was
changeling. For Steele focusing on Tara ’s
revelation was not easy. The drum beat of pain in Steele’s head was stiff
competition for what Tara had to
say.
“Steele, are you listening to me?
This doesn't mean Uncle Kevin is a murder it just means he’s a bad liar.”
Steele gently rubbed his head, “okay Tara ,
point taken. I’m gonna need to talk to him anyway. The staff has
decided to take a code of silence. The only one willing to talk is the
chef, in fact it kinda hard to shut him up. If your uncle doesn't loosen
a few tongues this is going to be an uphill battle.”
Besides Steele’s mom Shakia was the only
living soul on the planet who could tell when he was lying. When he
didn't go to the club she showed up at his house armed with the evening’s Daily
News. Rather than confront her boyfriend about the photo Shakia set the
paper down on the coffee table making sure Steele could see the headlines.
There it was right on the front page beneath the fold a photo of him
embracing his attractive friend and now client Tara. The caption
read Private investigator consoles niece of murder victim.
In spite of his pain he was still
observant enough to see what Shakia had done. Steele felt the need to
explain. “Hey look baby, I can ….” Shakia kissed Steele softly on
the lips. She began speaking in a tone that was all too familiar to the
observant detective. It was that kind of voice she used when she was
about to leave him to hang out to dry.
“Oh baby, you know I trust you…….it’s not
me you have to worry about but I'm sure you'll be getting a call from my Mom
soon.” Shakia began to laugh but when she saw drops of blood on Steele’s
shoulder her mood turned serious.
“Alex is that your blood?" She moved
in for a closer look. Steele didn't want to make a big deal of the
attack. He knew how much Shakia worried about him. After explaining what
happened at the apartment Shakia played nurse tending to his wound, bringing
him Tylenol and an ice pack to ease the throbbing inside his head. Later
that evening Shakia provided her patient with a little special TLC.
Please recommend this story to friends and family by clicking the link below.
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ALSO:
Alexander Steele Murder Mystery Trilogy
Author Larry J
Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
The Alexander Steele Murder Mystery series consist of the first three short stories set in Philadelphia. Philly native Lawrence Johnson aka Larry J. takes you into Philly's neighborhoods by way of his fictional,suave,detective Alexander Steele. The semi retired PI is the proud owner of the Mount Airy hot spot known as the Inner Sanctum. Steele has a problem. He just can't seem to put his past life of crime solving behind him. A seemly endless stream of new clients come to his club each with tempting new cases for the ever inquisitive private investigator.
#apple
Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
http://j.mp/1sncUH2
Author Larry J
Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
The Alexander Steele Murder Mystery series consist of the first three short stories set in Philadelphia. Philly native Lawrence Johnson aka Larry J. takes you into Philly's neighborhoods by way of his fictional,suave,detective Alexander Steele. The semi retired PI is the proud owner of the Mount Airy hot spot known as the Inner Sanctum. Steele has a problem. He just can't seem to put his past life of crime solving behind him. A seemly endless stream of new clients come to his club each with tempting new cases for the ever inquisitive private investigator.
#apple
Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
http://j.mp/1sncUH2
On Sale $0.99
Okay now we know how the couple was murdered but thats just the beginning.
ReplyDeleteWhere was Pablo during the murders?
Why was there mud on Antonio's shoes.
Who was the mysterious dark haired women in Sam's apartment?
The blonde was stealing a flash drive or a computer...or clothes.
ReplyDeleteNothing was missing from the apartment.
ReplyDeleteGreat chapter I think the blonde was one of poolboys girlfriends.
ReplyDelete