She replied, “We planned this together for over two years. And I can prove it.” She added, “It was his idea.” She let me know, “He’s nearly broke.”
“Right.” I confessed, “I didn’t like his last book.” I already knew the answer to my next question, but I asked for the record, “Why’d you wait so long?”
“Because,” she replied with some impatience, “it took Otis two years to marry me.”
“Right.” Guys just can’t commit. Meanwhile that bookcase is just waiting patiently to fall over. This was the most premeditation I’d ever seen. Cold, calculating, and creepy. I mean, when Otis Parker said, “I do,” his blushing bride was saying, “You’re done.”
The good news is that property values have gone up in the last two or three years. I don’t know about collectible books, though.
I tried to reconstruct the crime, to make sure I was getting it right. D-day for Otis Parker was the day after Jay Lawrence came to town to promote his new book. Today. Jay was supposed to help Mia last night to set up the bookcase for a tumble, then maybe a drink and a little boom-boom at the Carlyle, and some pillow talk about being together and psyching each other up for the actual murder. And this morning Jay would be here to comfort the widow.
But Jay, at some point, as the big day approached, got cold feet. All his Rick Strong books ended with the bad guy in jail, and Jay didn’t want that ending for himself. So he made a date with his publicist and ditched Mia, leaving Mia to do it all by herself. She had the balls. He had the shakes.
One of the things that bothered me was that Otis Parker was in his office early on the morning that he was going to be whacked. That wasn’t coincidence. Not if this was all planned in advance.
I went back to my original thought that Otis Parker had an appointment. And who was that appointment with? And why didn’t Scott know about it?
Maybe he did.
I said to Rourke, “I’ll be in the stockroom. Keep an eye on these two. Let me know when the car gets here.”
That made Mia think of something, and she asked me, “Where’s the ambulance?”
“I don’t know. Stuck in traffic.”
She stared at me and shouted, “You bastard! You lied to me!”
“You lied to me first.”
“You…you…”
I was glad she was cuffed. Rourke put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her into the chair.
Meanwhile Jay heard some of this, or figured it out, and he walked quickly toward me and asked, “Why isn’t the ambulance here?”
I confessed, “Otis Parker doesn’t need an ambulance.”
Jay looked as stunned as when I had pronounced Otis alive.
People don’t like to be tricked, and Mia let loose again. Sweet voice aside, she swore like a New Yorker. Good girl.
Jay Lawrence recovered from his shock and informed me, “You…that was not…that’s not admissible…”
“Hey, he looked like he was trying to stand. I’m not a doctor.”
“You…you said he spoke to you…”
“Right. Then he died. Look, Jay, here’s a tip for your next book. I am allowed to lie. You are allowed to remain silent.”
“I’m calling my attorney.”
“That’s your right. Meanwhile you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder.” I gave Rourke my cuffs and said, “Cuff him.”
I walked to the back of the store and into the stockroom.
Officer Simmons was talking on his cell phone, and Scott was still at the table, reading a book- How to Get Published for Dummies.
I sat opposite Scott and asked him, “Why was Mr. Parker here so early?”
He put down his book and said, “I don’t know. I guess to do paperwork.”
“Did he tell you he was coming in early?”
“No…I didn’t know he was going to be here.”
“But he asked you to come in early.”
“Yeah…”
“But never mentioned that he would be coming in early.”
“Uh…maybe he did.”
“That’s not what you said to me, or what you wrote in your statement.”
Officer Simmons was off the phone, and he took up a position behind Scott. This was getting interesting.
Scott, meanwhile, was unraveling fast, and he swallowed, then said in a weak voice, “I…guess I forgot.”
“Even after you saw the lights in his office?”
“Yeah…I mean…I remembered that he said he might be in.”
“Who put those five boxes of books in his office?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Why last night?”
“So…Jay Lawrence could sign them…Mr. Parker likes the authors to sign in his office.”
“Jay Lawrence wasn’t coming in until ten a.m.”
“Yeah…but…I don’t know. I do what I’m told.”
“What time did Mr. Parker think that Jay Lawrence would be in?”
“Ten-”
“No. Otis Parker thought that Jay Lawrence was coming in very early. About seven thirty or eight in the morning. That’s why he asked you to bring the books up last night, and that’s why he was here this morning.”
Scott didn’t reply, and I asked him, “Who wrote that note on the bulletin board that said ten a.m.?”
“Me. That’s when he was supposed to come in.”
My turn to lie. I said, “Mrs. Parker just told me that her husband said he had to get to the store early to meet Jay Lawrence.”
“Uh…I didn’t know that.”
“Mr. Parker never told you that when you carried the books upstairs last night?”
“Uh…I don’t-”
“Cut the bullshit, Scott.” I informed him, “Two people are going down for murder. The third person involved is the government witness.” I asked him, “Which one do you want to be?”
He started to hyperventilate or something, and I said to Simmons, “Get him some water.”
Simmons grabbed a bottled water off the counter and put it on the table in front of Scott. I said to him, “Drink.”
He screwed the cap off with a trembling hand and drank, then took a deep breath.
I took a shot and said to him, “Mrs. Parker told me you met her here last night, after Mr. Parker left for the day.”
He took another deep breath and replied, “I…she asked me to stay and meet her here.”
“And she asked you to help her with some furniture in her husband’s office.”
He nodded.
“And you did that.”
He nodded again.
“Did you know why you were doing that?”
“No.”
“Try again. I need a truthful witness for the prosecution.”
He drank more water, then said, “I told her…it wasn’t safe to-”
“One more time.”
