“I think so.”
“Well, then you get the news first.”
“Is it something really good?”
“It’s interesting, but I’m not sure if it’s good or helpful to solving the murder. I didn’t want to talk about it”—she looked around—“well, anywhere but here or at Sam’s house. I gambled that you were here. I don’t want other market vendors or other police officers to hear what I have to say. Yet.”
“Really?” I said, still standing in the open doorway with Hobbit. “This must be good.”
“May I come in?”
I stepped back and welcomed her inside.
• • •
“Mel called this evening, right before I was packing up to leave. He doesn’t typically work late, so I was surprised to hear from him,” Allison said.
“And he was upset?” I said as I handed her a glass of water.
Sam had arrived only about a minute after Allison had come into the house. The two of them sat on stools on the outside of the kitchen island counter as I gathered drinks and snacks.
“Yes, at himself. I think he waited until everyone else in the office went home before calling me because he felt so bad,” Allison said.
“Mel’s one of the market owners?” Sam asked as he set his glass on the counter. He’d had a long day, but still looked police-officer fresh and crisp.
“No, he works for the owners. He does whatever they need done, including filing and typing. He’s young and . . . well, as far as I can tell, he’s a pretty good guy. Anyway, he said that last week a woman from Reggie Stuckey’s office called and asked about selling trees at Bailey’s. Mel told them that could probably be arranged but he’d have to check with the owners first.”
“Sounds reasonable,” I said.
“Yes, well, he jumped the gun. He offered to send over a contract so that Reggie could look it over while he checked with the owners.”
“Oh,” I said. “That explains why Reggie had a contract.”
Allison shook her head. “No, not really. Remember that the contract was a doctored version of the Ridgeway contract. When the woman said she’d prefer a fax, he said that he printed out a new, blank copy right then and there and then sent the fax, but apparently it never went through.”
“A bogus number?” I asked.
“He thinks so.”
“Does Mel have the fax number he used?” Sam asked.
“Yes. I tried it. It goes to a disconnected number,” Allison said.
“I’m not sure why he was upset.”
“He thinks he should have told someone about the call and the incorrect number.”
“Hindsight and all. I’ll go talk to him tomorrow, but I don’t think he did anything wrong. If he doesn’t want the owners to know that he attempted to send Reggie a contract, he won’t be happy to see me, but I don’t think he needs to be worried,” Sam said.
“I know. I told him I was going to talk to you this evening, but that you’d have to be involved officially. He’s upset because he thinks that he shouldn’t have even tried to send the contract until he’d received approval from the owners, which he never did.”
“I doubt any of it is really his fault, but we need to get to the bottom of it. I’ll work on phone records, etc.”
“There’s no woman,” I said.
“What’s that?” Allison said.
“There’s no office person or assistant. Reggie was set up with a skeleton crew. I was at his place today. Well, he had a female housekeeper and a woman who’s part of a married couple that help with the trees but no assistant or secretary. It would be nice to know who the woman who called Mel is.”
I gave them both a brief overview of my visit with Gellie and Batman, even though Sam had heard the details earlier. Some other officers had been out to the Stuckey farm, so I suspected that he was now comparing my experience to theirs, but he only listened without adding to the conversation.
“I don’t have any idea who called then,” Allison said.
“I’ll track her down,” Sam said.
Allison’s new information might have felt big, but I could tell she was a little deflated after sharing the details. I knew what it was like to have something be bigger in my mind than in reality. I didn’t want to upstage her, but I really wanted to share what I’d discovered, too. “I’ve got more information.” I said when it seemed like Allison was finished.
“What?” Allison and Sam said together.
“I know who Reggie Stuckey was once married to.”
Sam sat up straighter. “I’d like to know.”