Chapter Thirteen #3
I returned to the question: Had any of the remaining team members known of the cheating?
And even if they were completely unaware, once Wardell had been briefed, might the Sages be disqualified anyway?
Would tomorrow’s show begin with their table rolled away along with an announcement that made the whole scheme public knowledge?
Or perhaps, to save face, an excuse blaming technical difficulties or illness or some other innocuous-sounding reason for their absence.
Or would they be allowed to finish the tournament without their ringleader and the earlier cheating be somehow swept under the rug?
I couldn’t imagine the other teams, especially those who were eliminated before the final rounds, would remain quiet if they found out about it.
Then I seemed to recall an NDA somewhere in the mass of paperwork we’d signed.
As the bright stage lights returned, I forced my attention back to focus on our answers as Bobby Brandon read them off. We’d gotten them all in Weather, missed only one in Knights—a question neither Seth nor Mort was sure about—and aced the celebrity marriage category, thanks to Maureen.
As Bobby broke for another commercial break, I scanned the soundstage.
The Sages looked nervous, but who wouldn’t be, considering their star player was taken away in handcuffs just before the live broadcast?
The Brainiacs also appeared tense, and I caught Bert looking in our direction.
I suppose he might consider us their biggest competition now.
Then I spied the same tension mirrored in Maureen’s face.
Mort’s emotions weren’t as easy to read.
He was wearing that focused expression he had when he was on the brink of solving a baffling case, but I had no way of knowing if he was thinking about Ray’s murder or our performance on the game show.
When the break was over, Bobby reminded the audience at home that today’s totals would be added to tomorrow’s, and a winner of the grand prize would be announced then.
He started his countdown by asking how many teams had twenty questions right, a deliberately low number that had all three scribes, including Julie’s replacement, raising our hands.
Then he crept up by one, and I could feel the cameras on us, looking for those tense facial expressions to increase the audience’s suspense.
No hands went down until he got to twenty-seven, and it was the Sages who had missed the most questions at four. It was their worst showing, but they could still make up ground under the right circumstances.
“Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine.” My hand stayed up, as did Bert’s. Or was that Curt?
Bobby Brandon paused, a lingering silence meant to milk all the tension he could muster. “Thirty.”
I lowered my hand, while Bert’s/Curt’s remained up, but a second later, he lowered his too.
And even though I was distracted through much of the gameplay, I found myself letting out a relieved breath.
“And those are the results for Day One of our two-day competition, Sagebrush Sages at twenty-six, and the Bakersfield Brainiacs and Mainely Brilliant tied at twenty-nine! Great job, players! Be sure to tune in to Pub Trivia Live tomorrow and see the exciting results! And don’t forget to download the app so you can play along!
” He smiled into the camera for a second longer, then someone yelled, “And that’s a wrap! ” and the bright stage lights dimmed.
“Wowsa,” Maureen said. “Tight game!”
“Sorry about the knight question.” Seth shook his head. “I should have figured it out.”
Mort wagged his head. “I didn’t know it either. And we’re tied for first. We’ve still got a shot at this thing.”
We waited until Mike had come to collect the microphones, and then we headed to the greenroom.
Curt and Bert had meandered over to the remaining Sages, and I could hear them ask what happened to their scribe. My ears perked up, and I might have inched a little closer.
“We have no idea,” one of her teammates said.
“All I know is that she was really off her game this morning. Normally she just fires off the answers like that”—he snapped his fingers quickly five times—” but today she seemed overwhelmed, and the next thing, someone was leading her away in handcuffs. ”
“Will she be back?” Curt asked, and the Sages just traded wide-eyed glances among themselves.
“All Jenny told us,” one of them finally said, “is that we needed to put our alternate in for the remainder of today. She didn’t say anything about tomorrow.”
At that moment, Lieutenant Caceras entered the room, and the Sages crowded around him with the same questions.
He held up his hands, gesturing for them to simmer down. “All I can say is that she is still being interviewed by police and will not be returning to the game.”
The only one who seemed happy to hear this news was the alternate, who kept trying to squelch a smile.
Caceras looked in my direction, and when he’d made eye contact, he tilted his head back toward the hallway, then he headed in that direction.
“I think he wants to talk to us,” Mort said.
I wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk with all of us or just me, but I figured I could leave that to the lieutenant to decide, and we started casually heading that way.
He didn’t seem surprised to see Mort and Maureen with me. I’d last seen Howard chatting with the Brainiacs, and Seth had wandered off. Caceras looked past us to make sure nobody else was in earshot, then he beckoned us farther down the hallway.
“What happened?” Maureen asked first. “Did they confess? Was Julie paying Sandi for the answers? Did they kill Ray?”
Lieutenant Caceras pressed his hands together. “I wish I could tell you it was that simple. Yes, we had them both down at the station, put them in separate rooms, and let them know we were also talking to the other.”
Mort laughed, and Maureen sent him a questioning glance. “Just good old-fashioned police work,” he explained. “Knowing an accomplice is being held can be a great way to loosen lips and work a deal. You promise to be more lenient with the one who agrees to turn on the other first.”
Caceras brushed his finger against his nose.
“Did it work?” I asked.
“Yes and no,” he said. “Sandi admitted that she was being paid to supply the answers.”
“By Julie?” Mort asked.
The lieutenant stretched his neck. “She claimed not to know by who, just that she found the money in a bag in her car with written instructions detailing the whole sweater thing and with the promise of more money if she kept on delivering.”
“How would someone get into her car?” I asked.
“An old beater,” Caceras said. “Apparently she never locked it.”
“And what did Julie have to say about that?” Mort asked. “Did she admit to giving Sandi the money?”
Lieutenant Caceras pursed his lips and shook his head. “Her story is that she was also contacted, that someone left a note in her locker telling her where to get the answers.”
“Convenient,” Maureen said.
“When we accused her, she insisted we do a lie-detector test, and that much, at least according to the test, is true. Although I think there’s more she’s not saying.
And here’s the kicker. She kept the note, so she at least has some tangible evidence to back up her story.
She also said that none of her fellow teammates knew about it or had access to the answers, which is why they’ll be allowed to continue in the tournament without her. ”
“Do you have the note?” I asked. “Was it similar to the one Bobby Brandon received?”
“It’s with forensics, looking for fingerprints and traces of anything that might connect it to its author.
And no.” He shook his head. “I don’t see any similarities between the two.
Whoever wrote this one used big block letters, maybe traced from a stencil.
Much more…” He trailed off, searching for the right word.
“Polished, experienced, proficient…than whoever wrote the threat to Bobby Brandon.”
“And the instructions that Sandi received?”
“Unfortunately, she said she burned it, but from her description, it sounds more similar to the note Julie received than Bobby’s. And by the way, they both insist that Ray had no way of knowing what they were up to.”
“This is frustrating,” Mort said. “Nothing connects.”
I was tempted to remind him that he was on vacation but decided to hold my tongue. Having Mort actively employing his deductive powers to aid this investigation, even if he wasn’t in charge, could definitely prove helpful.
“One thing we do know,” I said, “if the note was left in Julie’s locker, we’re right to focus on someone with ready access to the studio. Have you gleaned anything from the background checks on the crew?”
Caceras rolled his eyes. “I had a few folks working on it, and I got a report back about that thick.” He held out his fingers nearly two inches apart.
“I think they were bucking for promotion by trying to outdo each other in the paper usage department. I skimmed it. Nothing really jumped out at me. No major felonies or history of violence in any of the crew. Nothing that screamed, ‘I’m going to poison my coworker.’ ”
“I’m currently puzzling over the idea that Ray may have been killed because of something he overheard on a live microphone,” I said.
“Because you have evidence of that?” he said. “Or because it makes a better story?”
I sucked air between my teeth. “It may be the latter. But I realized today that some of the crew are also miked up, and we haven’t listened to those tracks.
What bothers me about that theory is the poison.
If Ray was killed on Monday over something he heard the same day, how did the killer just happen to have access to poison? ”
“We’ve been working that angle too,” Caceras said.
“We’ve touched base with the studio’s safety department.
If it was stored here in the building, they should have had an SDS—safety data sheet—on file.
There was nothing for methyl cyanide or acetonitrile.
They double-checked with purchasing, in case someone ordered it for another purpose and the safety department missed it, but nothing shows up there either. ”
“Why would they order it?” Mort asked. “What’s it used for?”
“It’s a solvent, mostly used for industrial purposes. Refineries, battery manufacturing. It’s also used to manufacture certain pharmaceuticals and photographic film, although that’s not done—has never been done—on the premises.”
“Any chance a crew member may have been involved in one of these industries at some point?” I asked.
Lieutenant Caceras pulled on his ear. “That, I didn’t check. Mainly because it seemed improbable that someone kept a vial of industrial solvent as a souvenir and carried it on their person just in case they wanted to murder someone someday.”
I sighed. “You’re right.”
“But it had to come from somewhere,” Mort said.
“Would you like to see the background checks for yourselves?” Caceras said.
“You’d let us take a look at them?” Mort asked.
“Let you? In a better economy, I might be able to swing authorization to pay you to review them,” Caceras said. “We usually have to put out good money for expert consultants like you guys.”
As we headed back to the dressing room, Maureen said, “I know he mainly meant you two, but I’m a little flattered to be included as an expert consultant.”
Howard and Seth were waiting for us, and since the green room had mainly cleared out, we started making our way to the parking garage.
“I was talking with the other teams,” Howard said, “trying to figure out if anyone knew about the cheating scheme.”
“You just happen to have a lie detector on you?” Mort asked.
“Don’t need one,” Howard said. “I’m an actor. A good actor is basically a skilled liar, and it takes skill the average person doesn’t have.”
“Ferret out any liars?” Seth said.
“Well, no,” he admitted. “As best I can tell, everyone, the Sages included, was shocked when Julie was arrested.”
We exited through the gate, said good-bye to the bored security guard, and climbed into the limo.
“I didn’t want to say anything in the studio,” Seth said, “but I have news. I misplaced my lucky pen and went back to the studio to check.”
“Did you find it?” Mort asked.
“Yes, but that’s beside the point. When I was coming back, I heard raised voices from the corridor that leads to Bobby’s dressing room, so I went to check it out.
It was Bobby complaining to Marty Wardell and Evelyn Grider about how he was still not happy with the security, and he was this close to walking.
Marty was trying to calm him down, and then Bobby suddenly stormed out.
” Seth laughed. “I thought I was busted for sure, since I had no business being there, so I thought quick and asked for an autograph.”
“Smart thinking,” I said. “Did you get one?”
“Nope,” Seth said. “Just brushed me off and told me now was not the time.”
“That doesn’t really qualify as news,” Mort pointed out.
“I’m getting there,” Seth said. “Wardell and Grider kept talking after he left, and she gave him an I-told-you-so about hiring Bobby. Claimed that he knew she had a better audition. That he should have given the job to her.”