Page 81 of All You Want
I hang up the call with the medical examiner and scratch my jaw, jotting down key points as fast as I can. Shane and I are back at the station to coordinate our next move.
“What did he say?” Shane asks, looking up from his notes.
“He confirmed time of death, just before Tami found the victim. However, the baseball bat wasn’t the murder weapon. Based on the shape of the trauma and the way it was applied, he thinks it was a side-handle baton, like the ones we carry and issued to the deputies. Whoever hit her was right-handed, not that it helps except to eliminate any lefties.”
“I’m a lefty,” Shane says. “But a police baton? Well, I’ll be darned. Are you saying one of our guys did it?”
“One of our guys lost his baton. Remember I told you Chad was knocked out and he says he can’t find his baton?”
“That changes things.” He picks up his pen in an obvious move with his left hand and waves it at me. “It could be one of the old guys.”
“Or the guys doing community service. I gave everyone basic training.”
“Viola would have trusted a deputy,” Shane says. “Especially if it’s one of the older guys.”
“Half of them had their wives with them. Besides, I doubt any of the old guys would have dared take out Chad. Did you find Evan?”
“Got the search warrant for his room,” Shane says. “Took the judge out of a pumpkin carving contest to get it.”
“Good. Let’s get over there. Did you keep tabs on Molly?”
“Can’t find her,” Shane says. “She’s not answering her phone.”
“About the murder weapon. Don’t let this information get out. Everyone thinks it’s a baseball bat, so we’ll leave it be for now. Let’s search Evan’s room first. Did you get anything from the mayor?”
Shane scratches his jaw and smirks. “He claims he was with Diana all night, although I don’t believe him. He might have taken her to his room, but she wasn’t there in the morning. He admits he was pretty soused.”
“He was staying at Pickaxe Polly, right? And Tami tells me Diana was shown to Baja Angel’s room in the basement. I can ask Tami to check if Diana slept in her room.”
“Okay, let’s get back to the Bee Sting.” Shane leads the way out the door, and this time, we ride over together in the Tahoe.
Tami is sitting out on the balcony where the Weeping Widow ghost took flight during the fireworks show. One of the employees dressed in white went down the zipline. There were lots of video of this, and I wonder if the murder happened while everyone was busy following the widow’s flight to pay attention to any other commotion.
We wave to Tami, and she waves back. I ask Shane to show her the search warrant while I take another look at the control room.
As soon as I enter the lobby, I spot Neil who is back at the concierge desk. He clears his throat nervously and picks up the movable counter to step out to my side.
“I hope you don’t think I had anything to do with the control room audio,” he says in a low voice.
“I’m actually wondering why you came back. I thought you were leaving to go home.”
“I forgot the box of chocolate Tami gave me for the grand opening, and I wanted to share it with my wife,” he says. “When do you think the murder happened?”
“Can you tell me again where you were during the fireworks show?”
“I was over there, standing next to the window.” He points to a tall window in the lobby with a view. “I couldn’t leave my spot.”
“Someone could have snuck into the control room if you were looking at the fireworks. Is that correct?”
“Yes, but I’m sure no one did then. Tami was the only one who went into the control room. That was before I walked her to her car.”
“Did you see anyone when you came back?” I walk around the counter to the location Neil would have been standing. “Where was the chocolate?”
“In the control room. There’s a closet where we put our coats and backpacks.”
“The employees?”
“Yes, and now that I think about it, I remember wondering why Molly left her costume in the closet.” He waves me into the control room and shows me a witch’s costume. “She was wearing it before the fireworks show, but when I came back for the chocolate, she’d already left it here.”
