Chapter 4. Too Many Suspects

The board members gather around the dining room table at the museum on Friday evening an hour before the sheriff is due to meet with them. After their greetings Sam Weiss says, “I guess as Chairman I should lead the meetings now. Did you all bring your list of motives and suspects the sheriff asked for?’

The board members all bring out pieces of paper and put them on the table in front of them.

Pam says, “Why don’t we make one list of our possible motives and suspects for the sheriff?”

“That’s a good idea, I’ll write up the summary list as we agree on each item,” says Mary.

“Thank you, Mary. I’ll start with my list,” Sam replies. I have just one item on my list. As a historian you might guess that it’s the collection of Civil War letters that Doc promised to loan to his history professor friend, Professor Will Smolet. Smolet wanted to write a book based on the letters. George decided not to let Smolet have the letters; at least until we had cataloged them and made digital copies. I suspect that after four years Smolet believed he was never going to get the letters in time to publish a book that he was sure would make a name for him. Publishing a book based on those letters would likely have gained tenure for Smolet. Without tenure he’ll probably have to leave the University of Michigan and start over. Is that worth putting on the list for the sheriff?”

“I think it is, Sam, most people are willing to do drastic things to save their careers. Shall we start with that, Mary?” says Pam.

“Yes, I agree. I have only one item on my list as well. I know several of us have always suspected that the president of the Community College that Doc initially considered giving the museum to may have walked off with the signed first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Doc cherished that book. His father left it to him I believe. George said the president lusted after that book when he saw it while Doc was still alive. We’ve never been able to find it. Maybe George discovered evidence that the president took that rare and valuable book after Doc decided not to give the museum to the college. What was his name?”

“Stevens; Will or William I believe,” says Joe. “He’s not the college president anymore. I heard he was fired for something inappropriate. Maybe he can’t get another job and needs money. If he didn’t take the book earlier he might have come back for it and killed George to get it if he was desperate enough. I say we add his name to be complete as the sheriff asked.”

“Seems unlikely to me but let’s include him,” muses Peter. “My list has two names; I start with family so I have George’s daughter and his sister Laura. I don’t have any motive for the daughter but I put her on my list thinking one of you might know of a motive. Laura’s motive could be resentment that their father turned the insurance business over to George rather than to her or both of them. She had to leave the area and start from scratch while George started with a good business.”

Pam says, “Those are pretty weak suspects Peter. I say we add them to the list because they are George’s family but let’s not give them any motives we aren’t sure of.”

“That makes sense, Pam. Let the sheriff find motives if they have any,” replies Joe.

“What do you have on your list, Joe?” Sam asks.

“The only possibility I came up with is the Italian American Club down in Detroit. Doc knew several members of the club who used to come up here fishing. George told me Doc considered giving them the museum thinking they could run it as a tourist attraction and make some money for the club. He offered it to them but then changed his mind when George told him that the club president came to his office asking about insurance if they turned it into a place for club members to stay on vacations. Doc was furious that they planned to throw out or sell his collections and withdrew his offer. George said the club president blamed him for squealing on him to Doc.”

Mary says, “That’s pretty far out. If that guy was going to retaliate against George it seems like he wouldn’t have waited four years, but I’ll add the club to the list.”

“Pam, you’re the last one. What do you have on your list?” inquires Sam.

“The only thing I could think of is the oddball guy who used to come in every month or so to look at the collection of old toys. I think his name is Greg Green. I heard him one night asking George if he could buy the toy collection and he was visibly angry when George said no, He never came back. Maybe he thought if George is out of the way we would sell him the toys.”

Joe adds, “Bringing up Greg Green reminds me that I hadn’t considered any of the volunteers who used to come every week and work with us. They all lost interest after satisfying their curiosity and learning that developing the digital catalog is tedious work; all that is except for Green’s occasional visits to see the toys.”

Mary interjects, “I forgot about the volunteers also. What about Brother Thomas, the monk who came up from Lansing for several months to read Doc’s collection of old letters from frontier people? He was using those letters for research for his Ph.D. thesis on frontier history. When he stopped coming I asked George about it and got a gruff reply. Maybe George and Brother Thomas had a falling out.”

“They sure did,” responded Sam. “Brother Thomas said he needed to take many of the letters home with him to complete his research on time. George refused to let him take them out of the museum and he was mad. Maybe we should add him to our list.”

“I’m not comfortable with that. I can’t imagine a religious man like Brother Thomas killing George over some old letters,” says Rev. Joe.

Sam says, “I agree, Joe, on the other hand, some collections of old letters are important enough to make the career of a scholar or professor seeking tenure, like Will Smolet and the Civil War letters. It’s not unheard of for a person to murder to make or preserve their reputation. Well, we have our list and I hear someone coming. It’s probably the sheriff. I'll let him in.”

“Hello, Sheriff, come on in. We have the list for you as you asked. We included everything we could think of even if some of these suspects and motives are pretty unlikely. We wanted to be as complete as possible,” Sam says to the sheriff as Mary hands the sheriff the list.

“I appreciate your cooperation, Sam. I hope it’ll make my job easier.”

The sheriff quickly reads the list and then asks, “What about George’s ex-wife?”

Peter answers, “She moved to Los Angeles after they divorced. From what George has told me they were still on good terms so she had no reason or opportunity to kill him.”

“If that’s so I don’t think she needs to be a suspect. Do you have phone numbers or other contact information for the people on this list?” Sheriff Ericsson asks.

Mary says, “I’ll get Doc’s address directory. It should have phone numbers for some of those on the list.”

Mary leaves the room to get the directory and while she’s gone Rev. Penny asks the sheriff, “Did you learn anything helpful from Bob Wilson in George’s office, Sheriff?”

“I shouldn’t say anything about an ongoing investigation, but I can say Bob didn’t help much with an enemy list. He said such a list would include everyone who had auto insurance with George. They’re all mad about the cost of their car insurance and of course, I can’t blame them. But that doesn't seem like enough reason to kill George. So I must say that Bob Wilson wasn’t much help. Although he did give me the names of several people that are mad about their insurance costs and blame George instead of the insurance company. But please keep that to yourselves. I don’t want Bob upset or to start any rumors.”

Mary comes back with the directory, takes the list from the sheriff and writes phone numbers by several of the names, then says, “That’s all we have. Sorry, it isn’t complete. Maybe you can get more phone numbers from a directory at George’s office. Of course George’s mother will have phone numbers for George’s sister and daughter. His sister Laura is in Battle Creek, I think, and his daughter Andrea is pursuing acting in Detroit. ”

“Thank you, Mary. I’ll see what we can do with this. Again I ask all of you not to discuss any of this with others. It’ll just make my job harder.”

The sheriff says goodbye and leaves. Sam waits for the door to close and says, “That should do it for tonight. I’ll see you all at our regular work time next week. Thanks for coming and doing your best to help the sheriff.”

Saturday morning Sue Johnson arrives for her perm at Erin’s Cut and Curl salon. She sighs as she sits in the chair for her shampoo. Erin says, “You seem tired this morning, Sue. Bad week with the sheriff?”

“I guess maybe I am a little tired. Sheriff Ericsson’s the third sheriff I’ve had to break in. He is the worst, or maybe it’s me getting older. If he doesn’t win re-election I’m retiring. I don’t think I could face breaking in another new sheriff.”

“It’s showing, Sue. Would you like me to touch up that grey that’s starting to show?”

“Yes, do it. Maybe not seeing this grey in the mornings will perk me up.”

The following Monday morning Sue sets the sheriff’s green coffee mug on his desk and asks, “How’s the investigation into George’s murder going, Sheriff?”

“Not well, I have too many suspects and none of them seem to me to have motive enough to want to kill George. This is going to take a lot of work to thin down the lists I have from George’s office manager and the museum board. Not what I want to be doing when I should be out campaigning for re-election. My Aunt Lois called me out of the blue last night and asked how my campaign is going. When I told her I have a murder investigation that will be taking up my time she advised me to solve it quickly or sweep it under the rug. She said in her years of experience with elections it’s never helpful to have something like this on people’s minds when they go to vote. I should listen to her advice. She is a successful politician seeking her party’s nomination for governor so she knows how to campaign. I think she has a good chance. She made a name for herself with the pro-life people and they have a lot of influence with the party now.”

“I hear the phone ringing, Sheriff. Let me get it.”

The secretary leaves the office and then calls out, “It’s Sam Weiss for you, Sheriff.”

“Hello, Sam, what can I do for you this morning?”

“Good morning, Sheriff. I have another thought for you that I didn’t want to share with the other board members.

“Okay, what is it?”

“Well it may be nothing but George and Rev. Penny were at each other’s ears lately. The Rev wanted to sell a few of the most valuable items in the collection to increase the museum’s bank account. He is concerned that without more money invested we won’t have enough to sustain the place for very long. George didn’t agree. He insisted we aren’t going to sell anything. If we need more money he told Joe we’d have to find another way to raise it. I can’t imagine Joe killing George but I thought you should know of their disagreement.”

“Thanks, Sam, I appreciate your candor. I’ll follow up and won’t say where I learned about their arguments.”

“Thanks, Sheriff. Goodbye.”

Then the sheriff calls in two of his deputies. He gives one the assignment to check the names on the list the board members gave him to see if any of the possible suspects were in the Sturgeonville area at the time George was murdered. He assigns the other deputy to check the alibis of the locals on the list from Bob Wilson along with Rev.Penny. By the time they finish discussing the lists the secretary announces another phone call for the sheriff.

The call is from Rev Penny who says, “Hello, Sheriff. I have some additional information for you that I didn’t want to share last Friday night. Sam Weiss has lusted after Doc’s collection of Civil War letters for the same reason as the history professor Smolet he mentioned. Sam is sure a book based on those letters would sell and make him good money for his retirement. George wasn’t willing to let Sam take the letters out of the museum and Sam knew he couldn’t write a book with access to the letters only during the short times we are at the museum, even if he didn’t continue to work on the cataloging with the rest of us.”

“Thanks for the tip, Rev. I’ll add Sam’s name to my list and I won’t say anything about where I got the idea.”

“Thank you, Sheriff. Goodbye.”

The sheriff no more than hangs up the phone when Mary Anderson sticks her head in the door. “Do you have a moment, Sheriff?” She inquires.

“Sure, Mary. What’s on your mind?”

“Well I didn’t want to say anything last night in front of the others but I think you should add Pam Lafave to your list of suspects. She and George were seeing each other quite regularly recently and then I heard that George dumped her for a younger blond who recently moved here from the Detroit area. From what I hear Pam was furious. Maybe too furious, although she hides it well.”

“Okay, Mary, Thank you for being helpful and for bringing this to my attention. I’ll add her to the list and won’t say where I got the tip.”

“Thanks, Sheriff, see you later.”

Just before lunch Pam calls the sheriff and suggests he put Mary Anderson on the list of suspects. She says, “You must know, Sheriff, George used to date Mary Anderson after she divorced. She was hoping he would propose. Instead, he dropped her out of the blue and began dating someone else. I heard she was really mad about not getting that proposal and wanted to get even.”

“Thanks, Pam, I’ll add her to the list and won’t say where I got the tip.”

“Good, Sheriff, glad to help. Goodbye.”

“Do you want me to bring you a sandwich from the Harbor Deli. Sheriff?” His Secretary offered?”

No thanks. I’m going to the Corner Bar and have a beer and a burger. This list of suspects is still growing. Now I have the board members turning each other in. They are all on the list except Peter Brown.”

“Oh, Sheriff you should put Peter on the list as well. Didn’t you hear, George canceled Peter’s business insurance because he was always way behind with his premiums? I heard Peter had to pay twice as much for insurance from some company downstate. He was livid with George from what I hear.”

“That’s just great; I may have a two beer lunch now. If this keeps up we’ll have half the town on the list of suspects and not one with a motive strong enough to kill. I may have to limit the deputies on road patrols to get the manpower to chase down alibis for all the people on our suspect list.”