Hothouse Orchid

43

It was Holly’s last day of training on the Malibu, and she was now certified to pilot her new airplane. She drove home, excited, ready to grill steaks with Josh, and as soon as she walked through the door she saw the light on the phone flashing. She pressed the voice-mail button on the phone and listened.

“Holly, it’s Lauren. Please call me on my cell as soon as you get this message. Something good has happened.”

Holly dialed the number.

“Holly?”

“Yep.”

“I’ve got good news and good news.”

“Tell me the good news first.”

“Bruno is dead; he ate his gun.”

Holly had to sit down. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Then let me tell you the good news: he left a suicide note confessing to the murders of the women.”

Holly took a deep breath. “I’m just flabbergasted, Lauren.”

“There’s more: we searched his house and found six pairs of women’s panties in a shoe box in a closet-they’re being tested for DNA matches with the victims now-and a vaccination gun that matches the serial number of the one stolen from the hospital.”

“I would call that a slam dunk,” Holly said. “Who found the body?”

“Jimmy Weathers. I forgot to tell you the bad news.” Lauren told her about the latest victim and about the phone call asking Jimmy to check on Bruno. “He found him dead in bed, with half a bottle of Scotch on the bedside table. The autopsy results have just come in: he had Ambien and six ounces of Scotch in his stomach, and the ballistics are good for his service pistol. All we need are the DNA results on the panties, and they’re due any minute. Hang on a second.” Lauren spoke with somebody else, then came back on the line. “The results are in: the DNA results match the victims. No semen present, though.”

“Then Bruno is cooked as well as dead. Nice of him to save the state of Florida the trouble, wasn’t it?”

“It sure was. I can’t remember when I’ve been so happy. It’s like the world has been lifted from my shoulders. Don’t tell anybody I said this, but I’ve thought more than once about killing him myself, and if I’d had an opportunity, I don’t know if I could have answered for myself.”

“You deserve to be happy, Lauren. Congratulations on clearing the murders, and congratulate Hurd for me, too, will you?”

“I sure will. I’ve gotta run, now. Oh, can you and Josh join Jack and me for dinner at his house Saturday at seven thirty?”

“I think so. I’ll ask Josh and confirm with you.”

“Bye-bye.”

Holly was salting the steaks and making a salad when Josh arrived. “Hey,” she said, accepting a kiss. “Drink?”

“I’ll make it; you’re busy,” he replied. “You seem a little dazed. Something wrong, or is it just the bourbon?”

“No, everything is good,” she said. She gave him the details of Bruno’s death and the clearing of the murders.

“That’s fabulous news!” Josh said. “But you don’t seem all that happy about it.”

“It’s just that it’s all too good to be true,” Holly said. “It’s too neat a package.”

“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” Josh said.

“I know.”

“Sometimes things just work out the way they should,” he said. “I mean, Bruno was always the suspect, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, but if he was the murderer, he was getting away with it, and I don’t see him killing himself because of an attack of conscience. In my experience of him, he didn’t have a conscience.”

“You have a counterhypothesis?”

Holly picked up the phone and dialed Lauren again.

“Hi, Holly.”

“A question, Lauren.”

“Okay.”

“What was the time of death on the last victim?”

“Midnight to four a.m.”

“And what was the time of death on Bruno?”

“Two a.m. to six a.m.”

“And what time did Jimmy get the call about Bruno not showing for work?”

“A little after ten a.m.”

“And what time did you get to Bruno’s house?”

“About ten thirty.”

“So how long would Jimmy have been at Bruno’s house when you got there?”

“Ten minutes, maybe.”

“Okay, that’s all I wanted to know.”

“You were thinking Jimmy might have offed Bruno?”

“I just wanted to eliminate the possibility, and the time line does that. Oh, who found the panties and the vaccination gun?”

“Hurd. I didn’t want to go into Bruno’s bedroom, so he and Jimmy were searching it. Hurd called me in to witness the evidence find.”

“That clears up my questions, then. Thanks, Lauren.”

“Bye-bye, Holly. See you Saturday.”

“Hang on a second, Lauren.” Holly turned to Josh. “Lauren has invited us to dinner at her boyfriend’s house on Saturday night. You available?”

“I’ll have to switch a shift, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Lauren, we’re good for dinner. You said seven thirty?”

“Yep. I’ll give you the address.”

Holly wrote it down. “And Jack’s last name?”

“Smithson.”

“See you Saturday at seven thirty.” Holly hung up.

“You look happier,” Josh said.

“Lauren had the right answers to my questions.”

“I heard the questions; what did the answers prove?”

“That Jimmy Weathers couldn’t have killed Bruno.” She explained the time line and the details of Jimmy’s finding Bruno’s body.

“Jimmy’s the cop I met at the hospital, right?”

“Right.”

“And you thought Jimmy might have killed Bruno?”

“Not really. I was just covering all the bases, eliminating Jimmy as a suspect; it’s how cops think.”

“Interesting,” Josh said. “Jimmy didn’t have time to kill him and forge a suicide note.”

“That’s it.”

“But…”

“But what?”

“He had time to hide the panties and the vaccination gun, didn’t he?”

“You’re thinking that Jimmy could have murdered the women?”

“Can you eliminate him as a suspect in the women’s murders?”

“I see your point,” Holly said, “but something else eliminates him as a suspect in those crimes.”

“What?”

“Bruno’s suicide note; he claimed credit for the women, and that excludes Jimmy and everybody else in town.”

Josh nodded. “Got it.”

“You’re thinking like a cop, too,” Holly said.

“Maybe cops and doctors aren’t all that different,” Josh said. “I was thinking that Jimmy had been at the hospital, and he could have stolen the vaccination gun.”

“Good point.”

“But you’re right; Bruno’s suicide note clears Jimmy.”

“It’s good enough for me,” Holly said.

“You’re sure he couldn’t have murdered Bruno and written the note in ten minutes?”

“Listen, I know Jimmy well. He’s a nice young man and a good cop, but I don’t think he has the low cunning or the skills to commit murder and forgery on the fly.”

“How about if he finds Bruno already dead, then forges the note and plants the evidence?”

“Just barely possible, but the investigation will include authenticating the suicide note.”

“So you’re happy, Holly?”

“I’m happy.”

“In that case, so am I.”