100 Proof Murder Read online

  Jill climbed into the BMW and off they went, downtown. Not only did the operations manager drive well above the speed limit, she steered with one finger while merrily eating her breakfast. ‘Ah, could you slow down a tad?’ Jill asked. ‘I get carsick at warp speed.’

  ‘Sorry, I learned to drive on wide open country roads.’ Alexis reduced her speed considerably. Once they reached the city, she was forced to crawl along in traffic.

  As it turned out, their appointment was not with the chief, as Alexis had thought, but with one of his homicide detectives, which in Jill’s estimation was a better choice. After a thirty-minute wait, they were shown to a conference room surrounded by a warren of cubicles.

  ‘Hi, I’m Lieutenant Grimes,’ greeted a thirtyish female officer. ‘The chief thought I might be more helpful. Which one of you is Miss Scott?’

  ‘I am,’ Alexis said. ‘This is my friend, Jill Curtis. I asked her to come along.’

  Grimes nodded and sat down. ‘First of all, my sympathy on the loss of your father. Now, let’s go over the details from the police report. Your father died two days ago inside the study at his home at Parker Estate. He was found by his wife, Rose Parker Scott, who called nine-one-one. Is she your mother, Miss Scott?’

  ‘She is.’ Alexis shifted on the metal chair.

  ‘Does she work for your dad?’

  There was a small hesitation. ‘Not really, but as a major shareholder Mom likes to stay somewhat involved. I believe they were planning to go to dinner downtown that evening.’

  Grimes glanced back at the report. ‘Police and an ambulance arrived approximately sixteen minutes later. But unfortunately, paramedics were unable to resuscitate Mr Scott after several attempts with a defibrillator. Is this also your understanding, thus far?’

  Alexis nodded agreement, while Jill jotted down a few notes of her own.

  ‘Paramedics pronounced your father dead at the scene and called the coroner’s office. A deputy coroner arrived twenty minutes later to examine the body. No signs of foul play were observed by either the police or deputy coroner, while several physical indicators pointed to death by myocardial infarction – a heart attack. The coroner listed probable natural causes on the death certificate and had his body transported to a funeral home under the care of Mr Ken Shea at your mother’s request.’

  The detective looked up at Alexis, then down again at the report. ‘When there’s a death, a specific procedure must be followed. The coroner’s office must contact the attending physician to see if the doctor concurs with the presumption of myocardial infarction. If so, the death certificate remains as is and no autopsy is performed unless specifically requested by the next of kin, which in this case is your mother.’

  ‘And she would say “no,”’ murmured Alexis.

  But in your father’s case, the attending physician wasn’t willing to sign the certificate, so a full autopsy will be performed at the medical examiner’s office, courtesy of the commonwealth.’

  ‘My dad had no heart disease, that’s why Dr Cribbs wouldn’t sign anything.’

  Grimes flipped through her notes. ‘Normally, the body stays at the coroner’s office pending word from the doctor. Apparently that wasn’t done.’

  ‘My mother insisted he be transported to Shea’s Funeral Home.’

  Shaking her head, the detective consulted her phone directory and jotted a number. ‘I will call Mr Shea and contact the coroner. They will arrange transportation to the state medical examiner’s office.’ Grimes leaned back in her chair. ‘You realize an autopsy will hold up the burial or cremation.’

  ‘It won’t hold up anything. My mother plans to have his funeral service this Saturday, with an empty urn if necessary.’ Alexis’s voice cracked, betraying her emotions.

  Grimes set down her notes. ‘I’m not sure why you’re here, Miss Scott. Do you have reason to suspect foul play in your father’s death?’

  Alexis cleared her throat. ‘For starters, Dad had at least one enemy. Anybody who works in a competitive industry like bourbon usually creates a few. Secondly my dad just had a complete physical and there were no signs of heart disease. None,’ she repeated.

  ‘Then that’s all you can do at this time.’ Grimes stood and picked up her tablet. ‘If the medical examiner finds something suspicious, she’ll notify the homicide department. I will personally take the case and contact you, Miss Scott. Again, my sympathy on your loss.’ She bobbed her head at both of them, then retreated into the world where civilians cannot go.

  ‘You did well,’ Jill said, grabbing Alexis by the arm. ‘Now let’s get out of here before they discover my unpaid parking tickets.’

  Alexis bought them lunch in a fancy restaurant before driving her back to the hotel. Jill was eager to get to their suite and call Nick, preferring to talk to her boyfriend while Michael was out. Her boyfriend. Jill giggled at the sound of it. It had been a while since she’d had a beau. A romantic entanglement. A significant other. No matter what she chose to call him, Jill loved having someone who cared about her.

  Nick Harris was patient, kind, and an all-around nice guy, besides tall and rather handsome. And the fact he worked for the Kentucky State Police as an investigator assigned to the Louisville post might just come in handy with the investigation of William Scott’s death.

  Unfortunately, it only took Nick five minutes after the ‘I miss you’s’ and the ‘I can’t wait to see you’s’ for him to say ‘no’.

  ‘Sorry, Jill, as much as I’d love to help, my hands are tied,’ Nick said in the husky voice she’d come to adore.

  ‘But Mr Scott had no history of heart disease. Don’t you think someone should look a little closer at his death?’

  ‘I certainly do.’

  ‘And he had an enemy in the bourbon world. One of his competitors just lost a lawsuit and the five-million-dollar settlement that went along with it. And doesn’t it sound a tad suspicious that Mrs Scott didn’t request an autopsy? Why would she have gone along with the idea of a heart attack if he was as healthy as Alexis told me and had no history of disease?’

  ‘It could be suspicious. But at the risk of annoying someone who I’ve missed very much, it could also be Mrs Scott was suffering terrible grief and wanted to get the ordeal over with.’

  ‘You’re lucky you prefaced that statement, Buster.’ Jill dropped her voice to an ominous tone.

  Nick chuckled. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to help you stick your nose into this master distiller’s death, but I can’t. Considering your recent history, aren’t you worried about becoming a suspect?’ His chuckle turned into an all-out laugh.

  ‘Not worried in the least. And what do you mean you can’t? You’re an investigator for the state of Kentucky. Of course you can.’

  ‘We’re a commonwealth, but regardless. Louisville isn’t a small town like Roseville where your Uncle Roger died. It’s a big city with homicide detectives, a major crimes unit, and forensic pathologists. If there was foul play, a team of professionals will get to the bottom of it. I have no jurisdiction and won’t be called to assist with the investigation. That only happens when a county sheriff or small police department has limited resources.’

  ‘Is that your final word on the matter, Harris?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course not. I’m here to advise you every step of the way and hopefully, keep you out of jail.’ Nick hesitated before continuing. ‘How did you get so tight with Alexis Scott anyway?’

  ‘That’s a story for another day. Do you have any advice for me right now?’

  ‘No, but I have a question. Isn’t your job creating a travel log of bourbon tours around Kentucky? I think you should concentrate on that and have dinner with me as soon as possible.’

  ‘What do you mean by soon? I’m free tonight as long as I can bring Michael along. I don’t want him to eat by himself again.’

  ‘As appealing as that sounds, I can’t tonight. I got a call from my mother’s next-door neighbor. She needs to talk to me and it doesn�
��t sound good.’

  ‘Did something happen to your mom?’ Jill asked. ‘I’ll go with you to Lorraine.’

  ‘I asked Mrs Diaz and she said nothing is wrong. But it’s time she and I talked. So I’m taking a week’s vacation, maybe more. The next time I go home, I’ll take you with me.’

  ‘Lorraine is less than two hours away. Why do you need that much time off?’ Jill’s anxiety was all too apparent.

  ‘I probably don’t, but I have so many accrued vacation days I might as well burn off a few.’

  ‘Will you keep me posted?’

  ‘Of course I will. Just do your job while I’m gone and don’t make trouble for the Louisville police. And try not to worry about my mother. I’m sure everything is fine.’

  Nick signed off with a smooch, but despite his assurance, Jill couldn’t relax. On one hand he’d promised to take her to meet his family. That was a good sign in a romance. But now that she was in Louisville for a week or two, where Nick supposedly had a perfectly fine apartment, she didn’t want him two hours away in a town the size of a postage stamp.

  Selfish. That’s what she was. And tomorrow she planned to wake up a nicer, more generous person. But it had been so long since she had a real relationship, she decided to feel sorry for herself for the rest of the day.

  THREE

  Since he had no idea how long he’d be gone, Nick Harris watered his two houseplants and asked the lady across the hall to feed his cat. The neighbor didn’t mind because he reciprocated each time she visited her children in Somerset. Getting time off from his job as a state investigator hadn’t been difficult either. It was what lay ahead in his old Kentucky home that made him worry. How long had it been since he visited his mother – a month? Two? Although he called her on a regular basis, Nick couldn’t remember going home since his father’s funeral six months ago.

  What kind of son did that make him?

  None of his three older sisters, all of whom were married with children, lived in Lorraine. Despite the fact Nick worked long hours and traveled all over the state, the responsibility of checking on his mom fell to him since he lived the closest. In that category he certainly hadn’t distinguished himself.

  The moment Nick exited Interstate 264 he switched off the AC and rolled down the window. Bardstown Road through Nelson and Larue Counties was twisty and potentially dangerous, but the scenic vistas also soothed and relaxed. Instead of inhaling exhaust fumes from Louisville traffic, he breathed in the smell of fresh-cut hay and Japanese honeysuckle, which seemed to be spreading across Kentucky like kudzu in the Carolinas.

  As the clean air cleared cobwebs from his brain, Nick realized he should have invited Jill to come along. She could have met his mother and forgotten about whatever was happening at Parker Estate. How could another master distiller have been murdered, the second within a month? Apparently whenever Jill searched out a story, she riled up one hornet’s nest after another.

  As he ticked off the miles to Lorraine, Nick tried to imagine what he would find. Considering her generous nature, maybe his mother had rounded up homeless people and brought them home to live. Maybe she’d adopted thirty cats from the shelter or had started hoarding more newspapers than the recycling plant. How could a sixty-two-year-old woman possibly frighten her neighbor? By the time Nick entered a town of shady streets, two traffic lights, and no jobs, and parked in front of the bungalow where he’d been born and raised, he still had no idea.

  Unfortunately the long overdue reunion would have to wait a few minutes longer. Refusing to be ignored, Mom’s neighbor and lifelong friend waved frantically from her front porch.

  ‘Hello, Mrs Diaz,’ Nick called as he approached. ‘How have you been?’

  ‘I’m fine, Nicky. It’s your mom I’ve been worried about.’

  Dread churned his gut as he climbed the front steps. ‘Is she sick? You should have called nine-one-one before calling me.’ Nick pulled out his phone.

  ‘No, no, she doesn’t need an ambulance. But she sure hasn’t been herself since your father died.’

  Nick sat down on the stoop and blew out a breath. ‘Could you be a bit more specific?’

  ‘Julie is getting forgetful. Maybe we all are, but your mom more than the rest of us. Just last week, I told her to watch Masterpiece Theater and she plum forgot.’ Inez kicked her feet to get the porch swing moving.

  He tamped down his impatience. ‘Maybe she liked another show better and didn’t want to hurt your feelings. You know how she refuses to use the DVR.’

  Inez peered at him over her reading glasses. ‘Maybe, but the next day she hung out laundry and didn’t fetch it from the line until three days later. I would’ve brought it in for her but sometimes she gets funny when people try to help. Then there’s the matter of the electric bill …’ Inez let the words hang ominously in the air.

  ‘What about the electric bill?’ Nick’s stomach took a turn for the worse.

  ‘She hadn’t paid it in months. It’s a good thing the utility sent somebody out before cutting off the power. I heard Julie arguing with their representative, so I hurried over. Julie kept insisting she’d paid the bill, but when I looked at her check register, she hadn’t paid any bills in weeks.’ Mrs Diaz shook her finger at Nick. ‘Before you accuse me of snooping, your mother told me where she keeps her checkbook years ago in case of an emergency. And we have keys to each other’s homes.’

  ‘I’m not about to accuse you of anything. I’m very grateful you’ve kept an eye on her.’

  The older woman relaxed before his eyes. ‘Well, I caught her utilities up, but that made her mad. Julie insists they are now overpaid.’ She stopped swinging. ‘Honestly, Nicky, they’re not overpaid, so that’s why I called you. Maybe you can put her utilities on auto-pay?’

  Nick smiled at the neighbor who once made him coquito cheesecake and coconut pudding. ‘I’m glad you called me. And I’ll look into signing her up for auto-pay tomorrow. Thank you, Mrs Diaz. How’s your husband?’

  ‘Carlos is fine. He’s sleeping in the recliner now, but if you wake him he’ll swear he was watching the ballgame.’ Her laughter revealed two gold crowns.

  ‘I’ll stop in to see him before I head back to Louisville. But right now I’m eager to see Mom.’ Nick stretched to his full height.

  ‘You know where we live, kid. Don’t be a stranger.’ Inez smiled and went inside, letting the swing bang against the wall.

  Nick crossed the lawn to his mother’s front door as fast as legs could carry him. He knocked twice and after a decent interval, pushed open the door and walked inside. ‘Ma?’ He swallowed a taste of panic in his mouth. ‘Mom, where are you?’

  ‘Nicky, is that you?’ Julie Harris, tousled-haired and sleepy-eyed, shuffled down the hall from her bedroom. ‘What a nice surprise! Did your boss give you the day off?’

  ‘Yep, I took some vacation when I realized how long it had been since I was home.’ Nick wrapped his mother in a bear hug, her head barely reaching his shoulder. Maybe it was his imagination, but she felt thinner, smaller. And when did she stop dying her hair? He held her at arms’ length. ‘Are you all right? Your hair looks different and you’ve lost weight.’

  ‘Pooh with my hair. I’m tired of coloring it. I’m going natural – gray, white, whatever. All the old ladies like me are doing it.’ Chuckling, Julie lowered herself into the recliner. ‘And no, I haven’t lost a pound. Now, what’s new with you, son?’

  As much as Nick wanted to grill her about utility bills and laundry day, he didn’t want to spoil their reunion with an argument. So he launched into an abbreviated version of the last six months, including how he’d met travel writer, Jill Curtis.

  ‘My son has a serious girlfriend? That is wonderful.’ Julie clapped her hands.

  ‘Don’t get too excited. We’re still in the early stages, but yeah, I really like her. In fact, I’ll bring her along the next time I come home.’

  ‘Woo-hoo! In that case, don’t wait another six months!’ She hooted just
like in the past when happy.

  ‘I promise I won’t. Tell me what’s going on with my sisters. Sometimes I see pictures of the kids on Facebook, but I’m not on social media very often.’

  His mother delivered an hour-long narrative of minor medical troubles for his sisters, job changes for his brothers-in-law, and updates on which nephew or niece excelled in which sport. Nick enjoyed every minute. It had been a long time since he’d felt part of a family.

  When she finished, Julie leaned back and grinned. ‘Soon you’ll have personal news to share with your siblings.’

  Nick felt himself blush. ‘Like I said – still the early stages. But hopefully someday I will.’

  Julie pushed to her feet. ‘Goodness, what kind of mother am I? I haven’t offered you a single thing to eat or drink. What would you like? Can you stay for dinner?’

  ‘I would love a cup of coffee, but instant is fine. And yeah, I plan to stay for dinner and spend the night if my old bed is still upstairs.’

  ‘Where else would it be? I’ll put a set of clean sheets on the steps for you to take up. I go up and down stairs as little as possible these days.’

  Nick rubbed the back of his knuckles. ‘I’ve not been the best son lately, but I aim to change that. Anything you need, just call me. Anytime,’ he emphasized. ‘Louisville isn’t that far away. I can be here before you know it.’

  ‘You’re a fine son. I just haven’t needed anything.’ She walked toward the kitchen door. ‘Let’s get a pot of coffee going, while I start something for supper.’

  Nick ran a hand through his hair, relieved by her reassurance. But that reassurance lasted only until he reached the kitchen. Plastered over every cabinet door and appliance were yellow Post-it notes with a variety of reminders. Take out the garbage on Tuesday. Turn off stove before leaving kitchen. Bring in wash Monday night. Don’t use garbage disposal. There were dozens of them, some regarding chores to be done, others for long ago medical appointments.