A. Renee Art

Everyone decided it was a nice enough afternoon to eat in the patio area of the courtyard. During the meal, Connor took his camera to get close-up shots of the abandoned blue Honda nearby, saying he needed some b-roll. The inside didn’t look spectacular. It needed some serious deep-cleaning and a bit of trash lay slightly under the passenger seat.

“You seem pretty serious about filming everything,” Janet remarked.

“I’m thinking of putting it on the internet,” he said.

“This is still an investigation, so I would thank you not to do that, Connor.”

“Oh, not now, or even this year. Maybe someday when the technology becomes better and faster for it. It’s an inevitability. After the millennium turns, information will become more instantaneous. Storage devices will become smaller, but carry tons of information, hours of video. Anyone will be able to investigate or become their own news organization. That is…until The Singularity happens and we become mini-gods of our own collective reality!”

Everyone stared at him, then Merc whispered to Janet, “Ask him how many times he’s seen The Matrix.”

But Connor overheard and answered, “17 times. You were there, too Merc.”

“Carrie-Anne Moss—Trinity.”

“Enough said,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes.

“A much better movie,” Connor added, “compared to the disappointment of The Phantom Menace.”

“I agree with you on that point. Maybe Episode II will be better.”

Maddie sighed heavily, her breath re-expanding her Capri-Sun juice pouch.

“Maddie?”

“I would recommend The Lord of the Rings,” she said.

“The what?”

“They’re filming a trilogy of movies in New Zealand right now based on the book series The Lord of the Rings.”

“Tolkien,” Janet asked. “I only read The Hobbit, once.”

Maddie nodded. “Horror isn’t the only genre entering a new era. Fantasy is getting a second life.”

“There’s some truth to that. My little sister won’t stop talking about that Harry Potter book every time I visit my parents. She said she’s read it ten times.”

“Oh. I thought about reading it, but…”

“Too juvenile for you?”

“Uh…yeah…sure.”

Connor returned to his food. The rest of the conversation turned to plans for the rest of the summer and the future in general, mainly about the upcoming school year. Janet mentioned anticipation of a possible engagement with her boyfriend and the teens offered her an early “Congratulations”.

The meal ended and Janet volunteered to collect the trash, planning to get rid of it in a populated area after leaving Painscreek. As they filed back inside the inn, Madeline’s eyes lingered on the abandoned car.

Janet remembered something upon returning to the table. She asked Merc about the inn room key he and Connor found in the Roberts’ master bedroom. Merc went to retrieve the 201-key from the hook behind the counter after returning it.

“I was just going to ask about that,” Lydia said, “Really weird.”

“Not if Charles was having an affair,” Merc said.

“The maid affair was in the ‘70s.”

“You’re all closer to being adults,” Janet said, “so I guess I can tell you that sometimes if a male politician has an affair, he’ll sometimes have more than just one. Vivian wrote that as a politician’s wife she had learned to keep one eye closed.”

Lydia winced. “Note to self, don’t marry a politician.”

Janet headed upstairs to see what secrets, if any, Charles might have left behind in room 201. She figured that, being a hotel room, it was probably cleaned out, but the key was in his house bedroom all the same. Something had to still be there.

Lydia was behind her as she unlocked and opened the door. Janet immediately saw a piece of paper at her feet, picked it up, and read part of it. Immediately, the context of the key’s discovery, and the investigation as a whole, changed.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

“Jackpot,” Lydia exclaimed as she approached a desk. On it was a briefcase, some pictures, and a small notepad next to an ashtray with a long-extinguished cigarette still perched in it. “This might be bigger than an affair! A politician with a briefcase in a hotel room? That screams ‘secret deals and bribes’!”

“It wasn’t Charles.”

They returned downstairs with the contents. Janet read the letter to the group.

Dear Steve M.

Thank you for your rent payment. As stated in your agreement, however, when rent payments are not received by the date specified, you must pay additional rent because of a late charge due or because you did not qualify for a rent discount. The required additional amount was not included in your payment and is therefore now due.

Rent originally due: 04/04/97

Additional amount required: $85.00

Paying the additional fee immediately will bring your balance up to date and remove it from our delinquent list. Please pay within 7 days of receipt of this notice or you will be asked to leave. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Rosalie P. (Manager)

A red “PAST DUE” was stamped below.

“Steve M,” Lydia said. “Steve Moss? He’s the detective who investigated last time that we told you about.” She jumped up and played the answering machine, skipping to the message she was looking for.

Hi, this is Sheriff Howard, I just want to make sure that my deputy delivered the package for Detective Steve Moss. And as to any additional information, I’m afraid I have nothing more to say at this time.

She stopped the machine.

“The house on 7 Black Pine,” Caylix said. “It turned out to be Andrew Reed’s place. Steve Moss requested a key for it. Madeline found it here, so we went there before going to the church. It was ready for him and everything.”

“We don’t think he made it to the house,” Lydia said.

“Lydia, grab me the front desk logbook,” Janet said.

Lydia handed the logbook to her. Opening it, there was a newspaper, which Janet gave to Lydia and found that a Steve Moss did stay in room 201 beginning on March 21^st of 1997, but it seemed he never checked out because there was only a question mark where a date and time should be.

“The inn closed in June after no word from Moss,” Janet said. She looked at the note from Moss’s room again then up at the front door. “No way.” She bolted for the door and stared at the abandoned blue Honda. Turning back toward the confused teens, she asked, “Who knows how to get into a locked car?”

“Holy shit,” Merc exclaimed.

Madeline had been looking at the three photos left on Moss’s room desk. One was a photo of what looked like a person on the roof of an abandoned building. The building’s sign read ‘Painscreek Community Hospital’. “One of the messages on the machine mentioned tools,” she said.

Merc, Lydia, and Janet then searched for a likely place for inn tools. Merc tried the closet and found a box of Da Vinci Wine and a list of addresses for delivery. Lydia asked Janet exactly what kind of tool would be needed.

“A slim-jim,” Janet said, finding what she needed on the other side of the area next to a lost and found.

The group met at the blue Honda. Janet stood at the driver’s side with the slim-jim in her hand. Caylix asked if she would get in trouble for this.

“It’s an abandoned town,” Janet assured her.

“Connor, maybe don’t film this? She has a job and a boyfriend she’s practically engaged to.”

Janet looked at Connor, who turned the camera off and held it down. Janet worked the tool in the window and lifted the latch, opening the door. Sitting in the driver’s seat, she got a sense that a man definitely drove this car, judging by how far back the seat was. It reeked of years of cigarette smoking. On the passenger side, under the seat, she got a better look at the trash Connor filmed earlier.

She pulled out an assortment of items: a pocket-sized notebook with sepia pages punched with five holes, which she kept in her lap while she looked at a letter, which was followed by a wallet, which she handed to Lydia, and a photo of a woman and another photo. With all four doors opened, the group checked everywhere else in the car, including the trunk, which was opened with another key found behind the passenger visor mirror. When nothing else was found, and they couldn’t get into the glove compartment, they met at the patio they had eaten at earlier.

“It’s Steve Moss’s car all right,” Lydia said, holding up the wallet with Moss’s private investigator ID card.

“Chester Copperpot,” Connor said, filming again. “This is some Goonies type of shit.”

“The car’s tires are flat,” Caylix said with worry, causing everyone to look back at the abandoned vehicle.

“Actually, cars that haven’t been driven in a while end up with flat tires from just sitting there,” Merc assured her.

“Really?“

“A mechanic told me. They become atrophied like unused muscles. It doesn’t necessarily mean…”

“Let’s go back inside anyway,” Janet suggested to the group.

At the table, they went over the contents the detective left behind. After the wallet, which presented nothing but expired cards and no cash, Janet read what appeared to be two letters. The first was from an anonymous sender who was a resident of Painscreek when Vivian Roberts was killed and just wanted to know the truth. They were writing on behalf of not just themselves, but also a close friend of theirs with whom they were in contact with and who was also from Painscreek. The close friend told them something about Vivian’s case, but since they didn’t have proof, they asked Moss to investigate. After initial payment, they promised the second half upon solving the case. The other was a photocopy of the threat letter Vivian received the day she died. It read:

“We’re close to finding a possible motive,” Lydia said. “Despite all the good she’s done, Vivian wronged someone. What about that photo of the woman?”

Madeline showed everyone the slightly discolored picture. There was nothing identifiable or descriptive on the front or back. The woman in question was young, smiling, with long dark hair. Janet took the photo. Merc took out the Roberts’ mansion employee folder and thumbed through it to find a matching photo. He didn’t but he found something interesting.

“So, the last maid who was hired, Mary Martinez, doesn’t have a photo,” he said while showing the group the page. “Got to be her. She found Vivian’s body.”

Lydia and the twins nodded, recalling those details. Janet wasn’t so sure.

“This photo,” she began. “I think it might be older.”

“What do you mean,” Connor asked, getting a better look.

“It’s the hairstyle. It’s too straight, the same way young girls and women in their twenties wore their hair in the early ‘70s. Even her clothes matches the same time period.”

“If Moss was investigating the murder, he might have uncovered Charles’s dirty little secret,” Lydia figured. “This could be the maid in question.”

“If that’s the case, let’s see what Moss might have written about her,” Janet said, opening the small notebook.

“Why,” Connor asked. “Vivian was murdered four years ago, not the ‘70s.”

“Because maybe the maid did it,” Lydia said. “The threat letter, remember?”

“Exactly,” Janet said as she began reading. “She might have been the one Vivian wronged.” Lydia was ready with her notes.

In his notes, Steve lamented the slow progress he had in his investigation, namely because many have either moved out or were starting to do so. He believed that the media didn’t have it right and that things weren’t what they seemed. Since Scott was questioned, he knew to start with him. Despite that the young man had ran away and he couldn’t speak to him, he was able to delve into his background. He noted that Scott found something at St. Patrick’s Orphanage, and decided to make a visit himself, adding that something was off about his background.

Interviewing the Roberts’ mansion workers, he discusses Charles’s and Vivian’s background, including the complications she suffered delivering Trisha. The part about Vivian’s medical issues wasn’t new to the current investigators. What was new was that Vivian was told by Dr. Henry Johnson that she could no longer have children after Trisha. That news caused her to have a breakdown and she was hospitalized for months. Feeling lonely and under pressure from his mother to have a boy to carry on the family name, Charles had an affair with the maid. Dorothy Patterson, who was the longest serving employee, explained this and remembered that the maid’s name was Sofia Miller. Dorothy admitted that a child was born from that affair and that Sofia had been living with her leading up to and after the birth.

After a few understandable reactions from the teens listening to Janet read, she continued.

Steve wrote on April 20^th that he received an anonymous telegram saying that Scott wasn’t the killer, but that was all the person wrote. It probably didn’t matter, though, since Steve said he already had doubts about Scott, despite motive. He found out from various townspeople that he was asking questions about Sofia Miller, Vivian’s murder, the fire at Andrew Reed’s house, and Dr. Johnson’s car accident, effectively investigating these people and events.

Days later, Steve received another telegram telling him to look into Bernard Hopkins, the butler, saying he would find something in his house. The telegram came with a key to his house. Steve wrote that after searching Bernard’s place, he felt that something didn’t add up, but he still thought that Bernard might have hurt someone.

Merc immediately fished out the key he found in Bernard’s exercise locker and held it up.

“Are we seriously thinking it was the butler,” Lydia asked, rolling her eyes.

But then the next entry in the notebook saved her and the group from exploring that possibility. Steve came to realize that he had been following this anonymous telegrapher blindly. First, something was off about the key to Bernard’s house itself. Bernard Hopkins had moved out, like most of the denizens of the town, in ’96. If someone else had the key after that, how did they get it and why would they even have it in the first place? Also, why would the anonymous person not just tell him in person about this supposedly interesting thing at Bernard’s place?

At that point, Steve realized that Bernard was being framed by the same person who sent him the telegrams and key. The second thing was the threat letter Vivian received. The ‘e’s on the letter were typed off-kilter.

The only conclusion, and perhaps the breakthrough he needed, was that the person who sent these items was the killer and that finding the typewriter matching the strange ‘e’s would lead him to them.

After going back over his entire investigation, including the alibis, he realized that one of his interviewees was lying. Something about a cancelled event, but Steve forgot which one.

Lydia made note of the names Steve interviewed:

He interviewed Charles Roberts, Bernard Hopkins, Derrick Tyler, and Dorothy Patterson, either by phone or in person before coming to Painscreek since they had already moved out, and Father Matthew Brooks and Mary Martinez while in town.

She crossed out Bernard, the red herring, and Charles, who was out of town at the time of the murder. “That leaves Dorothy, Matthew, Mary, and Derrick.”

“Mary found Vivian,” Caylix reminded her.

“Which means nothing except that she found her.”

“If one is shocked by someone’s murder, doesn’t that mean you had nothing to do with it?”

“Also, Mary Martinez admired Vivian,” Janet said. “In an interview from days after the murder, she told authorities that she was invited to have tea with Vivian after accidentally breaking a vase. Instead of being fired, Vivian asked her about her true aspirations. Mary replied that she wanted to open a deli. Vivian admired her for having goals and told her that she could be like her. Mary appreciated that.”

If only her Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Harris viewed her as ambitious. Comes from being a female employee with a male boss, her friend Athena explained. You can never show your capabilities because they don’t give you a hard assignment and if they do, it’s because they expect you to fail. A guy on the other hand, would have been expected to succeed. And even if he failed, he’d be promoted anyway. Janet volunteered for the Painscreek case to show her boss, obviously.

But an abandoned town…she knew she couldn’t do it alone in a single weekend. Despite not being obligated to pay them, she did promise the teens something, case solved or not.

“Ok,” Lydia said. “So, not Mary either. And not Scott, because it’s never the first suspect and in a way, he was. Plus, he was allegedly investigating the case, same as we.”

“So one of the others, Dorothy, Matthew, or Derrick, is lying about their alibi,” Merc said. “Either they did it, or they’re covering for the real murderer, which is also a possibility. I say that because of the photo of Charles’s mistress in Steve’s car. So where is she? What did Vivian do to her?”

“So, of these three, who knew this Sofia, knew about the affair, and is more likely to cover for her? I’m thinking Dorothy.”

“An old nanny,” Connor questioned.

“There is such a thing as old lady strength,” Caylix said. “Our own grandmother shook Uncle Koji’s hand so hard, he had to go to the doctor, remember?”

“Oh, right.”

“Also, Sofia is younger than Dorothy,” Lydia added. “So she could have been capable. And the child resulting from her affair, Vivian probably did something to Sofia’s kid. Maybe…at a well. Scott might have found something about it, which was why he was asking around about Sofia.”

“We do have Scott’s cabin key,” Madeline said.

“We’ll check that out tomorrow. We should go to Dorothy’s today. Wasn’t there something about a key already hidden at the entrance?”

“Dorothy wrote in her resignation letter to Charles that she left her house key under the mat,” Janet said, fishing the letter out. “With the amount of light left for today, we could head there.”

“Alright, who’s going?”

With the “Dorothy covering for Sofia” theory, Connor and his camera decided to go with Janet and Caylix, thinking it would be more exciting. That left Lydia, the other lead investigator, to go with Merc and Madeline to Bernard’s house. Even though Bernard was likely not the murderer, Lydia figured that it was best to follow in Steve Moss’s footsteps if that would lead them in the direction of the actual killer. Perhaps they would find something he missed.

“Before we go,” Madeline spoke up. “I want to see the contents of Steve’s briefcase. It’s combo-locked but I have an idea of how to get inside.”

“How,” Merc asked.

“His license plate number. ARD-1163” With a few turns of the numbers, she was in.

“Thought you said this wasn’t a computer adventure game,” Lydia teased back.

“Scott was a little boy. This thing belonged to a city detective who abandoned his car in a small town. He wouldn’t use a date as a passcode.”

Opening the case revealed a stack of autopsy reports, which Janet took, and a picture of a light sconce.

Lydia held the picture up and asked, “Anyone have any ideas of where this place is?”

“That could literally be anywhere in Painscreek,” Merc said, taking the photo, “including anywhere we haven’t gone into yet. Why is there a picture of a light in there anyway?” Merc turned the photo over, which revealed nothing. “What’s so important about it?”

“Never mind that,” Janet said. “What’s more important, is that Steve had autopsy reports on Vivian, but also Andrew Reed and Dr. Henry Johnson.”

“The accident victims,” Connor asked. “Why?”

“Because it seems they weren’t accidents.”

The teens looked at her stunned as Janet summarized the reports.

While Andrew’s body was charred from the house fire, closer inspection revealed puncture wounds in the lungs, possibly made with a switchblade or small knife.

As for Dr. Henry Johnson, while he was found at the bottom of a lake, his lungs did not contain water, meaning he didn’t drown. His skull showed a wide crack as if caused by a sharp object. His torso and face also suffered lacerations, meaning he died of blood loss before being placed in the water.

Vivian, of course, being the main murder victim, was killed with a sharp object. Death also from major blood loss.

“Andrew and Henry were murdered too,” Lydia exclaimed.

“Wait a minute,” Janet said as she opened her notebook of files she received from Sheriff Howard. “Notes on the autopsy of Vivian Roberts revealed that she was possibly killed with an axe. As Vivian was shielding herself from the blows, the strikes landed on the right side of her head above her right eyebrow. That means that she was facing the killer and the killer was strong to land clean deadly blows and was left-handed.”

“Of course they were left-handed,” Lydia sighed with disappointment.

“Come to think of it, the sheriff also gave me the alibi notes,” Janet added. Reading them again, she said, “Father Brooks canceled a service the Sunday before Vivian was killed on Wednesday July 19^th.”

“The canceled event!”

“Not so fast. He canceled the service to attend an annual conference out of town, which went from the 18^th to the 23^rd. He went to represent Painscreek Trinity Church.”

“Oh, some other event then.” She scratched Matthew’s name off her list. “Leaves Dorothy and Derrick.”

According to the alibi notes, Dorothy said that Bernard went home sick early after finishing his work. A fundraising event was supposed to take place the next day. Mary Martinez left after midnight, then Dorothy a short time after that. Both Dorothy and Bernard live alone. Derrick stayed at a friend’s house outside of Painscreek and offered to give his friend’s number to vouch for him, but according to the red notation, he never did.

“Vivian was murdered between 11 pm and 1am that night, according to the paper,” Janet added.

“It looks more like Dorothy,” Lydia said.

“Could she be covering for Derrick, though, given his shaky alibi,” Caylix asked.

“Hmmm.” Lydia put a question mark next to Derrick’s name. “She could be covering for him. Who knows why. Anyway, Derrick seems to be the only suspect remaining who was strong enough to wield an axe. We just need to find out is if he was left-handed.”

“And his connection to Sofia, if any,” Janet reminded them. “I have a feeling that she was involved somehow.” Just then, her cell phone rang. She excused herself to go around the corner of the front desk.

“Hello,” Janet answered.

“Hey Janet, it’s Dennis,” the voice replied. “So the boss gave you my assignment, huh? Hope it didn’t interfere with your weekend plans.”

“No, it’s…it’s fine.”

“Cool, so how’s it going?”

“There is something that I’m unsure about. Maybe you can help me?”

“I kind of feel terrible for getting sick and leaving you with this thing. I’m practically recovered, though. So what can I do?”

“Find out what happened to a woman named Sofia Miller. That’s S-o-f-i-a Miller.”

“Ok, got it. Anything else?”

“Yeah, two years ago, a P.I. came to Painscreek to investigate the Roberts’ case but it seems he…vanished.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. He left some things behind, notes and photos. I think he was closer to solving this thing than I am now.”

“Ok, this sounds pretty dangerous, Janet. Maybe you should come back in the morning or I can come.”

“It’s…fine. It was two years ago. Some people were still in town then, but it’s deserted now.”

“If you say so.”

“Anyway, the investigator’s name was Steve Moss. He came all the way from the city to investigate.”

“What’s a city P.I. doing investigating a small-town murder?”

“Someone originally from Painscreek hired him. Could you find out who and where he might have gone?”

“Got it. Find out who hired P.I. Steve Moss and where he is.”

“Thanks Dennis. See you Monday.”

“Alright.”

She returned to the table to find the twins there. Merc, Lydia, and Madeline had already left to check out Bernard’s house, hopefully to eliminate him once and for all as a suspect and to see the things Detective Moss saw.

Janet, Caylix, and Connor headed for Dorothy’s.