Chapter 11

                                    

                                              
Copyright (c) 2015 Phyllis Zimbler Miller
                          
All rights reserved.
                          


                          
     When the expected knock came on the apartment's front door, Rebecca and Josh had just finished dinner.  
                          
     Rebecca opened the door to detectives Connell and Sebastian.
                          
     Without any preamble Connell said, "As we told your boyfriend here, we found these notes in Helene's office with your name on the page.  Any ideas what these mean?"
                          
      The single sheet of a beige memo pad had printed at the top "From the desk of Helene Marmon" and written in blue ink below that were numbers and letters that appeared to be abbreviations.  Her first and last name had been written below this in the same blue ink.  
                          
     "I really don't know what this is about," Rebecca said.
                          
     "Did she discuss anything with you," Sebastian said, "that might be related to this?"
                          
     Rebecca sat down on a chair, motioning the detectives to the sofa.  Josh stood behind her.
                          
     "Helene never discussed business with me that I can recall.  We were social acquaintances only.  And she certainly didn't call me in the week before she died to talk about business.  I can't help you."
                          
     "Or won't?" Connell said.
                          
     Rebecca had no intention of getting into it with a police officer.  She said, "If you'll email me a copy, I'll spend some time puzzling over it."
                          
     Connell flashed an unfriendly smile at her.  "We brought a copy for you."
                          
     Then after exchanging the copy for the original she held in her hand, he said, "Have you thought of anything more relating to the two deaths to add to what you've already told us?"
                          
     Rebecca decided on a frontal attack.  "Are you following the news? There's a financial crisis and I'm busy covering what's going on.  It's your job to solve these murders."
                          
     Sebastian glared at her.  "We're still not sure about Helene's death -- whether it was murder or self-inflicted.  That's why these notes are so important."
                          
     Rebecca nodded.  "I will try to figure out what these might mean.  But I'm not good at crossword puzzles so don't expect too much."
                          
     Connell signaled to Sebastian to rise.  As Connell reached the door, he turned and said, "Just remember.  You might not like what we come up with."
                          
***
                          
         Connell took the wheel, leaving Sebastian to ride shotgun.  
                          
         "Vince, I don't like this," Connell said.  "We don't know if we have one or two investigations.  And where does this women fit into everything?"
                          
         From the corner of his eye Connell could see Sebastian nod and then say, "Hey, what do you think about the financial crisis in the stock market?  Think it's going to go down any more?"
                          
         Connell felt his blood pressure rising.  His partner was worrying about the stock market when they had this shit to deal with!  But Connell had promised his doctor to try not to unnecessarily raise his blood pressure.  He said, "I don't have the leisure to worry about the stock market."
                          
         Sebastian turned to look at him at the wheel.  "I'm not talking leisure -- I'm talking investments for the future.  A guy has to look ahead.  I put a little in the stock market, not enough to leave me hanging if anything happens, but enough to make me feel I'm building for a better tomorrow -- for me."
                          
         Great speech Connell thought but knew better than to say.  Sebastian liked to show off he knew words with more than one syllable.  Well, so did he.
                          
         "Rebecca Stone had opportunity," Connell said, "whatever her boyfriend said about them being together, but did she have motive?"
                          
         Sebastian obviously got the message because he said, "You think Helene Marmon was blackmailing her?  Maybe those notes are a code for how much she paid and when?"
                          
         Good -- no more about the current financial crisis.  But what kind of financial crisis might Helene Marmon have had?  And what could she be blackmailing Rebecca Stone over?
                          
         "Remember that case," Connell said, "when that newspaper reporter was screwing the politician whose campaign she was covering?  The hue and cry when the shit hit the fan and they were found out?  The reporter was fired and the women libbers cried foul, said a man wouldn't be fired for this."
                          
         Connell could see from Sebastian's nod that he remembered the case.
                          
         "Maybe Marmon knew of a conflict of interest in something Stone was covering," Connell said.  "Maybe Stone didn't want to lose her job over her indiscretion."
                          
         Sebastian flapped a hand at Connell.  "Naw, times have changed.  Stone could have gotten a lawyer and found some dumb labor law that would have allowed her to stay on the job.  It's got to be something else.  Something worth murdering for."
                          
***
                          
     "Let me see the thing," Josh said, reaching out his hand for the page left by the police.
                          
     Rebecca tossed it into his hand.
                          
     "Makes no sense to me," he said.  "It probably refers to some business deal."
                          
     Rebecca lunged for the paper.  "Of course!" she said.
                          
     She raced to her home computer and did a search for stock market symbols.  Then she plugged in the notations from the sheet of paper.
                          
     Yes!  Helene had written down the market symbols for four OTC companies.  Then she had apparently written the current traded price on the day she made the list (only slightly different from Friday's) and the 52 week high (again only slightly different from Friday's).    
                          
     "Great!" Josh said when she explained, "but what does it mean?  And why your name at the top?"
                          
     Rebecca stared at the paper in her hand.  "She may have meant to ask whether I knew any info on these four companies that hadn't yet been made public.  Not insider information, just info not considered important enough to make the news or be shared on social media."
                          
     "That's not what you cover for the World."
                          
     Rebecca nodded.  "I doubt Helene knew that.  Most people don't distinguish between the different types of financial and business news."
                          
     "What could have she have wanted to know and why?"
                          
     Rebecca smiled at Josh.  "I need to do some research online."
                          
     He grabbed the hand not holding the paper.  "How about a little diversion?"
                          
     "Okay, but I want to get to the office early."
                          
     "You expect the market to go down even more?"
                          
     Rebecca shrugged.  Who knew?
                          
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SINK LIKE A STONE is the second Rebecca Stone mystery novel.  The first, CAST THE FIRST STONE, is available on Amazon as are two Rebecca Stone mystery short stories in TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE.  See www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller