The Case of the Unfettered Utonagan Read online

“Where are you going?” Charlotte said.

  “That is none of your business. Not that it’s going to matter. Who are you going to tell?”

  “I guess that depends,” Charlotte said. “Assuming I need to, I’ll talk to whoever can help me.”

  “Uh, Charlotte,” Charles said. “I don’t think that’s what she’s referring to.”

  “I’m not following,” Charlotte said.

  “A half-step behind as always,” Clarissa said, laughing.

  “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “She’s going to kill us, Charlotte.”

  “What?”

  “Well done, Charles,” Clarissa said. “Now I understand why you’ve risen to the top of your field.”

  “Why would she kill us?” Charlotte said. “After she told me she had figured out a way to get around Jeremy’s will, I promised her two million from the estate.”

  “Two million, huh?” Charles said, then chuckled.

  “What’s wrong with two million?”

  “Do the math, Charlotte,” Charles said. “Last time I looked, eight is a lot more than two.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Charlotte said, her voice rising. “You want to spend the rest of your life on the run?”

  “Why would I be running? I’m going to be the grief-stricken daughter who was shocked to hear her mother and her dead husband’s investor were both killed in a tragic murder-suicide. Maybe the cops will think the two of you had some sort of lover’s tiff. That would certainly juice the story.”

  “What?”

  “C’mon, Mother. Make an effort to use what’s left of your brain. At least try to follow along.”

  “Even if I can understand why you might want to kill me, what on earth has Charles done to you?”

  “Nothing, really,” Clarissa said. “Let’s just say Charles is collateral damage.”

  “Because he killed Jeremy?” Charlotte said.

  “Wow,” Charles said, baffled. “When she said you were a little dense, she wasn’t joking.”

  “I told ya,” Clarissa said.

  “You didn’t kill Jeremy?” Charlotte said.

  “Why would I do that?” Charles said. “He was on the verge of making both of us a whole lot of money.”

  “Which Jeremy wasn’t willing to share,” Clarissa said.

  “Then who killed him?” Charlotte said.

  “Really?” Charles said. “You really need to ask that question?”

  We waited out an extended silence, then Charlotte whispered.

  “You killed him?”

  “Wow,” Charles said again.

  “I feel like I’m in a Fellini movie,” Clarissa said. “Yes, Mother. I killed Jeremy.”

  “But we were going to wait and let my guy in Colorado handle that,” Charlotte said.

  “I couldn’t take the chance of waiting,” Clarissa said. “He was getting too close.”

  “Too close to what?” Charlotte said, her voice rising again.

  “To that,” Charles said.

  “What is it?” Charlotte said.

  “Well, unless I’m mistaken, that envelope contains the latest results of Jeremy’s research,” Charles said.

  “His work with the wolves?” Charlotte said, increasingly confused.

  “Geez, Mother. You were married to the guy. How could you not know what he was working on?”

  “I never paid much attention to his work,” Charlotte said. “And who could even begin to understand all that crap?”

  “Inside this envelope is information that’s potentially worth billions,” Clarissa said.

  “Billions?” Charlotte said. “Is she telling the truth?”

  “She is,” Charles said, then paused before continuing. “You really thought I killed him?”

  “I did. I figured you wanted your investment money back and had finally run out of patience.”

  Clarissa snorted loudly.

  “Did I say something funny?” Charlotte snapped.

  “Want his money back? He was about to drop a hundred million into Jeremy’s lap,” Clarissa said.

  “A hundred million? On wolf research?”

  “No. On the prospect of growing human organs in a laboratory,” Clarissa said. “And I wasn’t going to see any of it.”

  “But how is that possible?” Charlotte said.

  “Who knows? That’s why I needed the envelope,” Clarissa said. “But the guy was a genius.”

  “He certainly was,” Charles said. “A total wingnut, but definitely a genius.”

  “But how did you end up being part of this?” Charlotte said.

  “I was about to ask the same question,” Josie whispered.

  “Shhh,” I said, listening closely.

  “Clarissa called me out of the blue,” Charles said. “Told me Jeremy was getting cold feet about his research. She said he was ranting and raving about how he was going to go to hell for messing around with God’s work.”

  “And you believed her?” Charlotte said.

  “Hey, if there’s one thing I learned over the years, when it came to Jeremy’s behavior, anything was possible.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” Charlotte said. “So, she agreed to hand over Jeremy’s research before he did something crazy?”

  “She told me he was threatening to burn it,” Charles said.

  “I thought that was a nice touch,” Clarissa said. “And it certainly got your attention.”

  “Yeah, it sure did,” Charles said.

  “How much did you offer her?” Charlotte said.

  “Ten million,” Charles said. “But at some point, she must have decided she could get a lot more. Especially if I was out of the picture. What’s the plan, Clarissa? You going to show up at the next board meeting with that envelope?”

  “No, I’m going with a one on one approach,” Clarissa said. “From what I understand, your second in charge has been dying to take over for years. This oughta do the trick, huh?”

  “You’ve done your homework,” Charles said.

  “Thanks,” Clarissa said. “For what it’s worth, Charles, I’m sorry I have to take you out.”

  “Yeah. I can tell you’re heartbroken.”

  “Maybe they’ll put your name in lights on the new lab. Or name a kidney after you.”

  “When you called me and said you had come up with a way to get our hands on Jeremy’s money, I thought we had finally turned the corner.”

  “No, Mother,” Clarissa said. “We weren’t turning the corner. It’s just one more dead end.”

  “I can’t believe you’re going to kill us,” Charlotte whispered.

  “Actually, the way it’s going to look is that you killed Charles, then killed yourself,” Clarissa said. “Right here in the shyster’s office.”

  “Can I ask you a favor?” Charles said.

  “A favor? Interesting,” Clarissa said. “Sure, why not? What do you need?”

  “I’d love to see what’s in that envelope before I go,” Charles said.

  “I suppose we can do that,” Clarissa said.

  “Here we go,” I whispered.

  “What?” Josie said, glancing over.

  “She’s going to have to put the gun down to open the envelope,” I said.

  “That’s why you wanted the duct tape, right?”

  “Yup.”

  “Geez,” Clarissa said. “Whatever is in this thing must be good. Fort Knox would be easier to get into.”

  We heard the sound of metal on wood, then Clarissa emitted a round of grunts as she struggled to get the envelope open.

  “Now,” I whispered.

  “What?” Josie said.

  We heard the sound of a door opening followed by Charlotte’s scream.

  “Hands in the air,” Detective Williams shouted.

  “Don’t even think about it, Clarissa,” Chief Abrams said. “I’d much rather see you in orange than on the slab.”

  “On the slab?” Josie said.

  “Yeah,
a bit hackneyed,” I said. “He’s better than that.”

  “Charles, if you’d be so kind,” Detective Williams said. “Put these handcuffs on Charlotte.”

  “In front or back?”

  “Front is fine,” the detective said. “I don’t think she’s going to give us any trouble. Are you, Charlotte?”

  “I’m merely here for a meeting with my lawyer,” she said softly.

  But her heart wasn’t in it, and we heard the sound of two sets of handcuffs being snapped on.

  “Why aren’t you putting him in cuffs?” Clarissa said.

  “Because he didn’t do anything,” Detective Williams said.

  “He offered me ten million bucks for that envelope,” Clarissa said.

  “From what I heard, he was merely paying for something he already owned,” the Chief said. “I imagine he considered it a business expense. Isn’t that right, Charles?”

  “That’s certainly the way I was going to play it,” he said. “And thanks for the call. Without it, I might have walked into something I couldn’t get out of.”

  “No problem,” Detective Williams said. “I just wish it had been my idea.”

  “The Muttonheads,” Clarissa said, almost spitting the words out. “It was them, wasn’t it?”

  “Maybe,” the Chief said. “Okay, folks. You can come in whenever you’re ready.”

  “I thought he’d never ask,” I said, opening my door.

  Josie came around to my side of the van and helped me out. Then the three of us made our way into the house. We walked down the hall and entered the office. Clarissa and Charlotte were on the couch. Charlotte continued to glance around the office with a deer in the headlights look seemingly etched in place. Clarissa glared at me, then did the same to Josie and Larry.

  “Muttonheads?” Josie said, returning her stare.

  “It seemed to fit,” Clarissa said. “Althea’s dead, isn’t she?”

  “She is,” I said, nodding. “Ski instructor, huh, Charlotte?”

  “If I give you his name, can I cut some sort of deal?” she said, glancing back and forth at the cops.

  “I don’t like your chances,” Detective Williams said.

  “You mind answering a couple of questions?” I said to Clarissa.

  “I guess we’ll see,” she said, maintaining her glare.

  “This all started when Peters asked you to witness the handwritten will, right?”

  Clarissa gave it some thought, then nodded.

  “He wrote it down in his office,” I said. “At the place where he was doing his real research.”

  “Yeah, Charles gave him office and lab space to use at one of his facilities,” Clarissa said.

  “I did,” Charles said.

  “And at some point, he decided to move into Cabot Lodge?” I said.

  “He’d been going back and forth for several months while the renovations were going on,” Clarissa said. “Then he decided to pack up all the hybrids and move in permanently.”

  “So, you spent time with him at the lodge?” I said.

  “No, I just followed him one day,” she said.

  “Right after he let you know you weren’t getting a cut from the next round of funding?”

  “Yeah,” she said, nodding. “I wasn’t very happy about it.”

  “Now, there’s an understatement,” Josie said.

  “How much did you offer Althea to help you change the will?”

  “Enough,” she said. “Not that she was ever going to see most of it.”

  “Because you decided to kill her off, right?”

  “That was her decision,” Clarissa said, pointing at her mother.

  “She’s lying,” Charlotte said. “It was her idea.”

  “Nice try, Mother.”

  “And the book mentioned in the will?” I said. “The Origin of Species.”

  “What about it?” Clarissa said.

  “It wasn’t mentioned in the handwritten version you witnessed. You had Althea add it.”

  “I did.”

  “Because you weren’t named as a beneficiary and needed a way to be invited to the reading of the will?” I said.

  “That was definitely part of it,” she said. “But I also wanted the book. I’m a collector.”

  “I knew it,” I said, beaming as I glanced around the room. “I knew you had to be a collector.”

  “Why does that even matter?” Clarissa said, baffled.

  “It was bugging me,” I whispered with a shrug.

  “You really are kinda weird, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, I should probably start working on that.”

  “Would anybody mind if I opened this?” Charles said, waving the envelope in the air.

  “Knock yourself out,” Detective Williams said. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it myself.”

  We waited quietly as Charles used a pair of scissors to cut through my wrapping job. Then he slowly removed a thick document and casually flipped through it. Then he started laughing and didn’t stop.

  “What is it?” Clarissa said.

  “It’s a photocopy version of Jack London’s Call of the Wild,” he said, tossing the document on the desk.

  “Nice touch,” Josie said.

  “Thanks. I knew you’d appreciate it.”

  “So, I guess that means Jeremy hadn’t had a breakthrough after all, right?” Charlotte said.

  “No,” Clarissa said. “It just means he hid his research someplace where nobody can find it.”

  “It’ll turn up,” Charles said. “Eventually.”

  “Okay, Chief,” Detective Williams said. “What do you say we get these two started on their new lives?”

  We watched as they helped both women to their feet then led them out of the office.

  “Nice work,” Detective Williams said.

  “It was a group effort,” I said.

  “Yeah, maybe,” he said, then departed with a wave over his shoulder.

  Josie sat down on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. Larry sat down behind his desk and flipped through the document. Then he focused on Charles Howard.

  “You going to need any legal help sorting all this out?” Larry said.

  “Oh, I’m going to need a bunch,” he said, sitting down in a chair across from the lawyer. “But before you ask, I’ve already got more lawyers than I know what to do with.”

  “Yeah,” Larry said, despondent. “I’m sure you do. Oh, well, it couldn’t hurt to ask, right?”

  “What do you think is going to happen with Jeremy’s estate?” I said.

  “I imagine it depends on how hard Charlotte’s lawyers want to push it and the judge who catches the case,” Charles said.

  “A judge will sort all this out?” I said, my neurons surging.

  “Since Jeremy is dead, and Charlotte and Clarissa are both going to be in jail, that would be my guess. Why do you ask?”

  “We’re worried about what’s going to happen to the hybrids,” I said.

  “Well, if you can convince the judge what Jeremy’s real intentions were, maybe your friend will be able to keep that hunting lodge. That would help, wouldn’t it?”

  “It would be a start,” I said. “But you’re going to want the right to bring a bunch of people out there and go through the place with a fine-toothed comb.”

  “Yes, I’m afraid I’ll have to insist,” Charles said.

  “You really think Jeremy cracked the code on growing organs?” Josie said.

  “I do,” Charles said. “It’s going to revolutionize science and medicine.”

  “It’s a bit Dr. Frankenstein, wouldn’t you say?” Josie said.

  “Not if you’re someone who’s lost a limb or is waiting for a transplant,” he said with a shrug.

  “They’re going to be able to regrow limbs?” Larry said, stunned.

  “Probably not at first,” Charles said. “But who knows what we’ll be able to do in the coming years?”

  “I’m not comfortable with a
ny of this,” Josie said.

  “You’re a dog lover, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” she said, grinning at me.

  “Then suppose you had the ability to clone your favorite dog,” he said without emotion. “Recreate it completely. A different animal that was identical to the one you had to say goodbye to. Would you do it?”

  Josie and I looked at each other as we gave the question some serious thought. Eventually, Josie glanced back at Charles Howard and nodded.

  “Yes, I would,” she whispered.

  “There you go,” he said, spreading his hands to emphasize the point. “And if you were a mother whose kid needed new kidneys?”

  “I’d do it in a heartbeat,” I said, rubbing my stomach.

  “Most people would,” he said, removing a business card from his wallet. “I need to run. I’ll be in touch. But if you have any questions for me, or need anything, don’t hesitate to call. And good luck with the baby.”

  “Thanks,” I said, pressing a hand against my stomach.

  We watched him depart. Then Josie got to her feet and jangled the keys to the van.

  “You ready to go?” she said. “I think the kitchen might still be open. I’m starving.”

  “Yeah, just give me sec,” I said, feeling a strange sensation.

  “Are you okay?” Josie said.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I said, then looked at Larry. “Remember how I promised not to pop in your office?”

  “I do,” Larry said. “Please tell me you’re not going to do that.”

  “No, I’m not,” I said, staring down at the carpet. “But I probably should tell you my water just broke.”

  Epilogue

  Exhausted, but elated, I glanced down at my daughter who was nestled against my chest, sound asleep. I gently stroked her head and let loose with a contented sigh.

  “She’s so beautiful,” my mother said, unable to take her eyes off the baby. “Maxine Joclaire Chandler. Welcome to the world.”

  “Little Max,” Josie said with a grin. “I can’t wait to watch her grow up. I have so much to teach her.”

  “Like how to eat a chili-dog without spilling it all over yourself?” I said.

  “Josie needs to figure out how to do it first,” Chef Claire said.

  “Do as I say, not as I do?” I said, laughing.

  “Exactly,” Chef Claire said.

  “Shut it.”