Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

“ H arry, I’m not sure you should investigate with us.” Sam looked at Harry as they left the police station and headed down Main Street. Marnie’s campaign headquarters was just a few blocks away, so it made sense to walk.

“I know. I’m just going to visit my girl Marnie.” Harry smiled at Sam, and then his face scrunched up, and he doubled over in a fit of sneezing. “Ugh, that smoke,” Harry sputtered, doubling over in a fit of coughing as the door to the cigar bar swung open.

Sam patted Harry firmly on the back. “You okay there?”

Jo looked on, concern in her eyes. “Deep breaths, Mr. Woolsten.”

Lucy whined softly, nudging Harry’s leg with her nose.

Sam glanced through the haze of smoke wafting from the open doorway. He caught sight of Victor Sorrentino, the Convale public liaison, sitting at a table near the window, smoke wafting out of an ashtray in front of him. Victor gave Sam a curt nod, which Sam returned before the door swung closed again. Sam didn’t much like Victor. He didn’t trust the guy, and he was wary of Convale, the big energy company that loomed at the edge of town, but it was still smart to maintain a cordial relationship.

Harry waved a hand, still coughing slightly. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m allergic to cigar smoke. Triggers my asthma.” He took a few more breaths. “Whew. Anyway, as I was saying, Marnie’s got some great ideas for supporting our seniors here in White Rock. You know she wants to start a community garden at the rec center? And fund more activities and classes at the senior center downtown. She’d make a fine mayor.”

Sam nodded absentmindedly as they continued down Main Street.

“Have you decided who you’ll endorse yet?” Harry pressed. “Marnie could really use the support of the chief of police.”

“I’m still weighing my options,” Sam replied. “The election’s not for a few more months anyway.”

“True, true,” Harry conceded. “But if you wait too long, Marnie might not need you anymore!” He let out a chuckle that turned into more coughing.

Jo gave Sam a knowing look. They both knew Sam had no intention of endorsing Marnie, but neither wanted to burst Harry’s bubble.

“We’ll see, Harry,” Sam said diplomatically as Marnie’s campaign office came into view. “We’ll see.”

“Afternoon, folks,” Amelia said as Sam, Jo, and Harry entered Marnie’s campaign office. She was sitting at the main desk, the one that had belonged to Alex until yesterday. Apparently, she hadn’t wasted any time claiming Alex’s former position as her own. Her smile seemed a little less inviting today, and her eyes held a glint of wariness.

“Hello, Amelia,” Sam replied. “We were hoping to speak with Ms. Wilson about Alex’s death and the ongoing investigation.”

Amelia frowned slightly. “I’m afraid Marnie isn’t in the office currently. Was there something I could help with instead?”

“Well, we had a few questions for the staff,” Sam explained. “Trying to build a timeline of Alex’s last known movements and interactions.”

Harry piped up eagerly, “Say, where is Marnie anyway? She’s usually here this time of day.”

“She had a last-minute speaking engagement added to her schedule,” Amelia said briskly. “I’m sure she’ll want to be fully briefed when she returns.”

“Of course,” Sam said. “To start, we’d like to know if Alex was in the office as usual yesterday. And if anyone saw him or spoke to him later in the day or evening.”

The staffers glanced around at each other uneasily, but no one spoke up.

“Anyone?” Jo prompted. “Anything you can recall would be helpful.”

Finally, a nervous young man with glasses said, “Alex was here yesterday, at least in the morning. We have a staff meeting at ten a.m. every day, and he ran that as usual.”

An older woman with short gray hair chimed in, “That’s right, he was here. Poor boy. He seemed down after losing his grandfather recently, but I never thought... well, it’s just awful.” She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

“So no one saw or spoke to him after he left work?” Sam clarified.

Headshakes all around.

“Did he say where he was going after work yesterday?” Jo asked. “Any appointments, errands, plans?”

Again, no one seemed to have any useful information.

Sam surveyed the group. “If any of you do recall something that could help us determine Alex’s movements yesterday, please give me or Sergeant Harris a call.” He handed Amelia his card to pass around the office.

“We’ll do that,” Amelia said briskly, placing the card on the desk in front of her. “Now, if there’s nothing else, we should really get back to work. The election is coming up quickly, and we need to honor Alex by continuing the hard work he started.” Her no-nonsense tone left no room for argument.

“Of course,” Sam said. “We’ll be in touch if we have any other questions.”

He and Jo turned to leave, Harry shuffling out behind them.

“Well, that was a bust,” Jo muttered as they stepped outside. “No one seems to know anything useful about what Alex was up to yesterday.”

“Or no one wants to say,” Sam said grimly. “We’ll keep digging.”

He glanced back through the glass door at Amelia, who had already returned her attention to her computer screen, fingers clicking rapidly across the keyboard.

Sam, Jo, and Harry continued down Main Street, away from Marnie’s campaign headquarters.

“Hey!” a voice called from the narrow alley between the hardware store and the bakery. “Chief Mason!”

Sam turned to see a young woman peering out from the alley. She was one of the campaign staff, though he couldn’t recall her name at the moment.

“I’m glad I caught you,” she said, glancing around furtively. “Can we talk for a minute?”

Sam exchanged a look with Jo, and they changed course, heading for the alley. Harry made to follow, but Sam held up a hand.

“Let’s speak to her alone first,” he said.

Harry harrumphed but stayed put on the sidewalk.

In the semidarkness of the alley, the young woman wrung her hands nervously. “I’m Monica, by the way. I didn’t want to say anything back there, but I saw Alex yesterday evening.”

“Where?” Jo asked intently.

“Here, at the office,” Monica said. “I had to come back to finish up some work. I was just leaving when I heard voices coming from Marnie’s office.”

“Alex and Marnie?” Sam clarified.

Monica nodded. “They were arguing about something. I couldn’t make out details, but it was definitely heated.”

“What time was this?” asked Jo.

“Around seven thirty,” Monica said. “I didn’t want to interrupt, so I just slipped out quietly. I felt weird about it after, you know, hearing them fight like that.”

Sam studied her face. She seemed genuinely uneasy recalling the incident. “Did you hear any of what they said specifically?”

Monica shook her head. “Just raised voices. Sorry I don’t have more details.”

“Did Alex argue with anyone else recently that you know of?” Sam asked.

Monica shook her head. “Not that I ever witnessed.”

“What about Amelia?” Sam said. “They didn’t have any conflicts?”

“No, not really,” Monica replied. “I mean, they disagreed on campaign strategy sometimes, but nothing major.”

Sam nodded. “I noticed Amelia’s already taken over Alex’s desk as campaign manager.”

“Yeah, she got promoted quick,” Monica said uneasily. “I know it sounds awful, but someone has to manage the campaign, and Amelia was eager to step in.”

Monica glanced behind her nervously. Sam realized he probably couldn’t keep her much longer without drawing suspicion.

“Did Amelia know she was next in line for Alex’s job?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, everyone knew that,” Monica said hurriedly. “Anyway, I should get back. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Before Sam could respond, Monica hurried back down the alley, taking the back way to the campaign office.

Sam’s phone chirped. It was Reese.

“Hi, Sam. I tried to call you through the system in the Tahoe.” Reese loved using that antiquated police radio in the car, but Sam avoided it as much as possible.

“I’m not in the car right now.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I figured you’d want to know this right away, so I called. They found Alex Sheridan’s car in the parking lot of the Drunken Moose.”