“Not at all,” she said. “But my sugar buttons programmed me to always give a reminder when we’re breaking the law. I keep a digitized list, so we can cover our tracks if need be.”
“Very helpful,” Jack said. “Thank you, Magnolia.”
“Give me a few minutes,” she said, her voice dripping with honey.
“We know that Bruno and Juliet were high school sweethearts,” Jack said. “Kind of. They were off and on until she took off for LA to make it big as an actress, and they were off and on again after she came back and married Brian Dunnegan.
“There’s another connection with Jody Burkett, victim number four. She was Juliet and Bruno’s high school theater teacher. But she also had connections with the entire cast of the Curtain Call. Rick Early told us she frequently gave master classes and helped them with performances.”
“Who’s Rick Early?” Martinez asked.
“The manager at the Curtain Call,” I said.
“Maybe our killer didn’t think Burkett was a very good teacher,” Cole said.
“Maybe,” Jack said.
“What about the kids at the movie theater?” Martinez asked. “How do they tie in with Juliet and Jody Burkett?”
“They’re extras in the script,” Jack said. “But he’s not original enough to come up with his own material.”
I looked over at Doug and noticed he’d gotten very still at the mention of what happened at the movie theater.
“Jack,” Magnolia said. “I’m afraid I have bad news. I’m unable to compile a list of people who graduated high school during the same time frame as Juliet Dunnegan. Newcastle has just recently gone to an automated system for yearbooks and data, but it doesn’t have complete records yet.”
“Thanks, Magnolia,” Jack said. “It was worth a try.”
It was then I remembered the creepy room in the tower of Jody Burkett’s house. “The tower room,” I said to Jack. “There were dozens of Playbills and programs stacked in there. Some of them were framed and hanging on the wall. Maybe she kept them all.”
“Chen and I can run over and grab them all,” Martinez said.
“Good thinking,” Jack said.
“Leave the creepy masks,” I said, and Chen gave me an odd look. It was then I remembered she’d had babysitting duty with Doug while we’d been at the crime scene. Martinez swiped a finger across his throat, telling me to not say any more, and I had a feeling that Chen was about to have the daylights scared out of her. Martinez was a prankster. He’d be lucky if Chen didn’t shoot him.
They waved goodbye and I went to lock the front door behind them. And then I swung by the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. I was capped out on coffee for the day. I also realized I hadn’t eaten anything since Emmy Lu’s donuts so I grabbed some peanut butter crackers from the pantry and shoved one into my mouth, putting the rest in my pocket.
When I walked back into the office Doug said, “Someone has peanut butter.” And everyone stared at me.
“I was hungry,” I said. “We didn’t have lunch today.”
“Thank you,” Doug said. “Now would someone please order a pizza so this lady can eat? The treatment of your workers is abysmal.”
“I think you’ve said enough tonight,” Mackenzie chimed in. “Don’t be a wise guy.”
Doug opened his mouth to speak and Cole tapped him on the back of the head again.
“I’ll order the pizzas,” Cole said, and then he pointed at Doug. “You keep working.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Doug said, but he hunched over the keyboard.
“If we take Mark Lee and Tatiana Russo out of the equation,” Jack said. “Every one of our suspects circles around Juliet. She was the first. Her husband, Bruno, Trest…they all could have been the father of her child. That’s motive. Jealousy is motive. For Dunnegan’s part, the money he would’ve lost in a divorce is motive.”
“What do Juliet’s financials look like?” Cole said. “Maybe we’re looking at this from the wrong direction. She’s got her fingers in a lot of man pies.”
I squenched my nose and said, “Gross.”
“That didn’t come out like it sounded in my head,” Cole said. “I think I’m just tired. Anyway, maybe Juliet was blackmailing whoever the father of her child is. Or something like that.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Jack said.
“I can pull her financials,” Doug said. “No problem.”
“Ahem,” Magnolia said, clearing her throat.
“Magnolia can pull her financials,” Doug said, rolling his eyes. “Geez, now they’re both ragging on me.”
It didn’t take thirty seconds for Juliet Dunnegan’s financial records and bank statements to come on the screen.
“Her work at the theater was her full-time job,” I said. “She got a stipend, just a few hundred dollars a month, but she didn’t need the income. She and her husband had separate bank accounts. She gets an automatic transfer twice a month, I’m assuming from the husband since it’s consistent and goes back years. She’s got a healthy balance. It looks like she doesn’t pay any of the bills from her account. She makes regular visits to the hair and nail salon. A massage every two weeks. Clothes, makeup, shoes…and debit card payments to Dr. Clifford Wilcox. I’m guessing that’s her OB-GYN.”
Doug’s fingers flew across the keys again. “Wilcox has an office in King George.”
“She wouldn’t want to use anyone local,” I said. “And she’s paying out of her personal account so it doesn’t go on their health insurance.”
“What do you want to bet Brian Dunnegan monitors this account?” Jack asked. “A baby would’ve thrown all his plans out the window, and if he’d gone through with the divorce he would’ve been out more than whatever she got in their settlement.”
“So why would he kill Jody Burkett?” I asked. “She wasn’t the first murder victim, but technically, she was the first victim. He abducted her before he killed Juliet. What role does she play in this? And does Brian Dunnegan have a connection with her somehow?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Let’s see if Brian Dunnegan has any theater experience in his past. Maybe he does know Jody Burkett. Rick Early told us that Jody spent some time working off-Broadway. Check Brian Dunnegan’s past addresses. Where is he from originally?”
“Whoever the killer is,” I said. “Jody Burkett played an important role in his life somehow. Maybe she refused to cast him or maybe he wanted to be a star and she killed his dreams.”
“Well, he’s about to be a star now,” Jack said. “The six o’clock news is about to come on.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jack hit the power button on the remote, and the television above the fireplace came on.
“I’ve always hated that song,” Cole said as the news started to play. “Gets stuck in my head every time.”
There was a quick flash of the Channel 8 News logo, and then the camera panned in close to Carrie.