Murder Is Elementary by Diane Weiner Page B

he was a cheater. Poor Hayley––pregnant with his child, holding things together at home while her husband was out gallivanting. Susan got out of bed and turned down the temperature. Maybe that would help her fall asleep. 2am, 3am….the red light of the clock radio was a constant source of stress, reminding her of how few hours of sleep she was getting. Thank God she didn’t have to go to work in the morning. Maybe she should ask her doctor about a prescription for Ambien in case this happened again. Her friend Maggie swore by it. No, maybe that wasn’t such a great idea. She remembered seeing a segment on Dr. Phil about this lady who took Ambien and started cooking and eating pasta in the middle of the night. She kept gaining weight and didn’t understand why because she had no recollection of doing this. Her husband was going to leave her because he thought she’d become a prescription pill addict, and because she’d gained thirty pounds. Dr. Phil had to patch things up for them. Susan decided to make herself a cup of chamomile tea.
    Susan was relieved to see the first hint of sunlight through the window.
    “Lynette, I have some important information for you.” Susan called Lynette’s cell even before getting out of bed. Mike was still sound asleep beside her. “I found Vicky’s purse in Antonio and Hayley’s closet last night. Don’t ask. I think you need to go over there and get it. The Epi-pen was still in it.”
    “Vicky’s purse in Hayley’s closet. How much sleep did you get last night, Mom?”
    “I’m serious. This is really important.”
    “What on earth were you doing in her closet?” asked Lynette.
    “I was looking for the restroom. That house is so big, I’m sure I’m not the first person to have gotten lost in there,” said Susan.
    “Uh huh. We’ll go with that,” said Lynette. “How do you even know it was Vicky’s?”
    “I checked the wallet,” said Susan.
    “This really sounds crazy, Mom,” said Lynette. “I wish you would just keep your nose out of trouble.”
    “But Lynette…this is an important clue. You should be thanking me for this information.”
    “Yeah, okay, Mom. I’ll check it out. It’s Sunday so it might take a while to get a search warrant.”
    “I have one more piece of information for you. I don’t want any lectures about snooping though,” said Susan
    “Just tell me.”
    “I took a little ride to the Omni and the Hilton the other day. The waitress at the Hilton recognized Vicky and Antonio and remembered seeing them together on a few occasions. I’ll bet he’s one of the cryptic contacts that were on Vicky’s phone.”
    “Mom, I told you Jackson and I are going to look into that. You have to be patient. Just because Vicky and Antonio were involved with each other doesn’t mean he killed her.”
    “I know, but it could be a piece of the puzzle,” said Susan.
    “But this isn’t your puzzle, Mom. Let me go and get busy securing a warrant. Go work on your scrapbook. I’ll talk to you later,” said Lynette.

Chapter 29     

    It had taken several hours, but Lynette had the search warrant in hand.
    “Come on, let’s get over to the Petrocelli household,” said Lynette. Jackson followed her into the cruiser. He looked like a bird that had just swallowed a canary.
    “Okay, Jackson. I know you’re dying to tell me something.”
    “I called Theresa Rizzo last night,” said Jackson.
    “Wow, I’m proud of you. What did you say?”
    “I told her I thought she was really pretty and nice and I wanted to go out with her,” said Jackson.
    “That sounds a little sketchy,” said Lynette.
    “I guess it was. She said she was really busy with work right now but maybe sometime. Sounds like a blow off to me,” said Jackson.
    “Well, don’t lose hope. Next time we’ll do a little role playing before you call.”
    Jackson raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.
    “Relax. Not that kind of role playing,” said Lynette.
    Just then, they