Sixty Minutes for Murder Read online

  “Is that all true?”

  I gave him a look. “Would I lie to you?”

  “No,” he said. “Definitely not. It’s just…uh, I hadn’t heard all of that before.”

  “Well, it’s definitely true,” I said. “Dina told me that forensics found Wendy’s DNA on the Absolut bottle that they found in her desk. And when Danielle made her confession, she described everything that happened between her and Wendy that Sunday afternoon. It apparently started with a snide remark and quickly escalated into an all-out shouting match. Danielle had just come back from Tipton’s. She was carrying two shopping bags filled with liquor for a company party they were doing in a couple of weeks. Frank Kanter made it her responsibility to act as hostess, party planner, bartender and clean-up crew.”

  “He really sounds like a tool,” Zack said.

  “Big time tool,” I said with a laugh. “From raising rents on his tenants to cheating on his wife, that man was just a greedy, selfish pig. As if the real estate schemes he and Richard Poole pulled off weren’t bad enough, Kanter always wanted more, more, more—and it was all for himself!”

  “So back to Danielle and Wendy,” Zack said. “What did they argue about that day?”

  I smiled. “What else?”

  “Money?” he said. “Or a man?”

  “Well, in a way, it was both. Although the money was definitely the key to Danielle’s rage. I heard most of this from Dina after Danielle’s statement was finalized, but it’s still confidential.”

  “I think you can trust me,” Zack joked.

  “I’d have to agree.”

  “Who was the man?” he asked. “Frank Kanter?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but not in a romantic sense. It was his role in the real estate swindle and how the money flowed. In the early days, Kanter relied on Danielle as his in-house confidant; nobody else at the company knew that he and Richard Poole were falsifying the structural engineering reports on distressed properties that were on the market. Then they’d swoop in, buy the buildings for a greatly-reduced sum, slap a coat of paint on everything and sell them for a handsome profit a few months later.”

  “What exactly was Danielle’s role?” asked Zack.

  “Mostly administrative,” I said. “Kanter kept two sets of books for every transaction; one contained the legit inspection and true market value, while the second set was used to defraud the seller and other prospective buyers.”

  “But how did he trick the sellers? Didn’t they know the true value and structural integrity of their property?”

  “Aha!” I said. “That’s the ten-million dollar question. You see, Kanter and Poole were super sneaky. They always did their research and targeted commercial properties that were involved in bankruptcy or fire sale situations. In some cases, the seller was a fairly disinterested third party. They didn’t stand to profit much from the deal, so they didn’t really care when a prospective buyer came along. And when that buyer, in this case, Frank Kanter, asked to bring in his own structural engineer for another inspection, the third party almost always agreed. That decision resulted in a report that somehow made the building seem less valuable than the seller originally thought. It might be structural problems or a costly HVAC overhaul or a supposedly antiquated electrical system. The third party didn’t really know about the property, so they went along with Poole’s fictitious report.”

  “Even though it meant the property sold for far less than the asking price?”

  I smiled. “That’s the beauty of their scheme,” I said. “Because they targeted smaller properties in third tier markets that were being handled by subpar brokers, Poole and Kanter almost always convinced the sellers to lower the price based on a report that appeared to be legitimate. At that point, the sellers just wanted out; they didn’t have time or capital to do expensive repairs.”

  “And the reports seemed to make the buildings look like lemons?”

  “More or less,” I said.

  “That’s the second time you said that Kanter and Poole almost always won the bid,” Zack said. “What did they do if their fraudulent report was questioned or dismissed?”

  “That was always simple,” I said. “They walked away.”

  He shook his head and laughed. “Smart rascals, huh?”

  “Two peas in a very corrupt pod,” I said.

  “And Danielle Breen told Dina everything?”

  “She did,” I said. “It was in her written statement.”

  He lifted one hand and rubbed his chin. “So how Wendy find out about all of this?” he asked. “I still don’t get that part.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “I should’ve covered that earlier. Did I tell you about the air ducts in the Sagebrush Lofts Building?”

  Zack snickered. “Is that a trick question?”

  “No, it is not,” I said. “Whoever retrofitted the building back in the day didn’t realize that the duct system created a perfect megaphone between one line of office suites and the ladies’ restrooms on every floor. So if you were using the facilities and someone was talking in an office that was one or two floors directly above or below the restroom, you could hear the conversation almost as if you were in the room with them.”

  “Uh-oh,” Zack said.

  “Big uh-oh,” I replied. “That’s how Wendy learned about Kanter’s scheme. And when she threatened to go to the police if he didn’t cut her in on the profits, Kanter agreed. Unfortunately, the money that he began paying Wendy was taken out of Danielle’s cut of the profits. Kanter was originally giving her fifteen percent of everything, but that was slashed in half to accommodate Wendy’s blackmail demands.”

  Zack made a face. “Are you telling me that Danielle got so mad about losing a few bucks that she killed Wendy?”

  “It’s called simple, unadulterated greed,” I said. “Danielle got used to the extra cash. But she and Wendy were never friendly. When Kanter told Danielle that part of her proceeds were going to Wendy, the fuse was lit. It sizzled slowly for weeks until that Sunday. According to what Danielle told the police, she was coming into the building with the bottles of liquor and Wendy was leaving. They got into a conversation about Wendy blackmailing Kanter, but the chat quickly became a heated exchange that ended with Wendy criticizing Danielle’s outfit.”

  Zack laughed. “Her outfit?”

  “Yep. The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was a snide remark that Wendy made about Danielle’s dress being too tight.”

  “So Danielle wacked her on the head with a bottle of vodka?”

  I tried not to smile, but the corners of my mouth lifted anyway. I felt guilty, but it was an absurd twist in the confrontation.

  “As Wendy turned to leave the building,” I continued, “Danielle spontaneously reached for one of the liquor bottles and hit Wendy on the back of the head. She went down instantly, but Danielle panicked. For whatever crazy reason, the switch had flipped in her head. She wanted Wendy Barr gone for good, so she put down the bags of liquor, wrapped the strap for her shoulder bag around Wendy’s neck and choked her until she stopped breathing.”

  Zack blinked. “Holy smokes. She really snapped, huh?”

  “Completely.”

  “But didn’t the neighbor find Wendy’s body at her house?”

  “Sue Carswell,” I said. “After Danielle was convinced that Wendy was dead, she quickly went into Sharon Ruiz’s office, got the keys to her company van and used it to move Wendy’s body from the Sagebrush Lofts to her house on Odgen Terrace. Once again, she thought it was a clever idea; move the body to a second location to try and confuse the police.”

  Zack laughed. “It sounds like Danielle was the only person that was confused,” he said. “Doesn’t it seem unnecessarily risky to move Wendy’s body from the Sagebrush Lofts back to her duplex?”

  “Yes, but you’re using logic,” I said. “At that point, I’d bet that Danielle was in panic mode. She’d just killed someone in a fit of rage. Her brain was probably melting down as she t
ried to figure out what to do. Luckily for her, since it was a Sunday, nobody else was in the building. She was able to move the van up to the side entrance, drag Wendy across the sidewalk and get her into Sharon’s vehicle without being spotted.”

  “Wow,” Zack said. “A killer and a brute.”

  I smiled. “Wendy weighed about an ounce,” I said. “She was always so skinny.”

  “Okay, so that’s one thing I was curious about,” Zack said. “The other was Larimer’s cash. Was there anything to his claim about Wendy’s employee stealing money from his office?”

  “Oh, that! Well, in the end, Warren’s teenaged son confessed to pilfering his dad’s desk.”

  “Nice,” Zack said. “What did Larimer do when he found out?”

  “I don’t even want to know,” I said. “I’ve heard way too many horror stories about Warren Larimer’s temper.”

  “Have you talked to Sue this week?” he asked.

  I nodded. “She called yesterday to tell me that she ended the affair with Ken.”

  He shook his head. “Why? Were they suddenly feeling guilty about carrying on behind Wendy’s back?”

  “I guess so,” I said. “I honestly didn’t listen that closely once I realized her motive was to try and absolve her sins. She barely mentioned Wendy at all while we spoke. And when I mentioned her name, Sue came up with a random excuse to get off the phone.”

  “Guilt,” Zack said. “It’s a hard one.”

  “For some people,” I said. “Luckily, Frank Kanter no longer falls in that category.”

  Zack frowned. “You mean he didn’t do anything wrong?”

  “No, I was referring to your comment about guilt being hard for some people,” I explained. “According to Detective Kincaid, Frank Kanter offered a full confession to the federal agents about the real estate scams that he and Richard Poole had been pulling off.”

  “Ah, that’s a switch,” Zack said. “Why the change of heart?”

  “I can’t really answer that,” I replied. “Dina told me that Kanter was truly stunned when he learned that Danielle killed Wendy as a result of his decision to split her original take of the shady profits. The important thing is that they both realized the errors of their ways.”

  “Okay, so maybe guilt isn’t so hard for some people,” Zack said. “What happens next for Kanter?”

  “The ill-fated trifecta,” I said. “Lawyers, courtrooms and time behind bars.”

  “Well, from what you’ve told me,” Zack said, “it couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.”

  “Right you are, handsome,” I said, taking another sip of wine. “Every once in a while, even justice comes out on top.”

  CHAPTER 42

  “That looks amazing!” Julia said, coming into the kitchen the next morning at half past five. “Have you been up all night or something?”

  I put down the pastry bag and stepped back from the cake that I’d been decorating for the past half hour. It was red velvet with chocolate buttercream frosting accented with cinnamon-flavored dragées.

  “Not all night,” I told her. “I woke up at three-thirty from a horrible nightmare, and decided to get a head start on the day.”

  She checked the whiteboard. I felt a tinge of joy when I saw her expression tilt toward stunned surprise.

  “Holy cow, Katie! You’re on fire! Two dozen cookies, three loaves of banana walnut bread and Karleen Murray’s birthday cake?”

  I picked up the icing and added one final rosette to the top of the red velvet confection. I’d been so pleased with the first cake that I’d decided to make another for my neighbor. She’d recently completed a huge living room remodel for one of her interior design clients, and I wanted to mark the occasion with her favorite bakery treat.

  “No rest for the wicked,” I said, cocking one eyebrow. “I also shredded lettuce, sliced onions and diced ham.”

  She angled her head in the opposite direction, adding a quizzical look. “Where’d you stash the pep pills, boss?”

  I tapped my coffee mug with one finger. “It’s just caffeine,” I said, “and massive waves of relief. I didn’t realize how tense I was during the past few days, but I feel so much more relaxed now that they’ve closed the Wendy Barr case.”

  “You did get pretty caught up in that situation,” Julia said, slipping into a clean apron. “Harper and I were starting to freak out.”

  “Really?”

  “Just a little bit.” She took a mug from the cabinet and filled it with coffee. “But it’s not a bad thing,” she added, walking to the front line. “You’re a strong advocate for integrity and fairness, so we knew your intense concentration was coming from a good place.”

  “Intense concentration?” I smiled. “Is that a nice way to say that I’ve been mean and overbearing?”

  “Oh, no!” Her eyes suddenly blazed with concern. “I didn’t mean that at all! It’s just that you were intensely concentrating on helping the police figure out who killed someone that we all knew.” She paused briefly, a faint smile flickering on her face. “And somebody that almost everyone liked.”

  I put down the pastry bag again and reached for my coffee. “You’ve got a point, Jules. I was oblivious to the fact that Wendy had been rubbing some folks the wrong way. I really thought she was still universally loved by the entire town.”

  “It’s such a sad end to her life,” Julia said with a somber shrug. “But I suppose in some circumstances money really does change everything.”

  “It can be intoxicating,” I agreed. “Not that I’ll ever know how it feels!”

  “Or me!” she said.

  We shared a laugh before I raised my mug to quote one of our favorite adages.

  “Always remember,” I said, “to forget the things that made you sad.”

  Julia lifted her coffee to join me in the toast. “And never forget to remember the things that made you glad!”

  “So be it!” Harper said, coming into the kitchen through the back door. “I heard you guys as I was walking up the steps. What are we drinking to?” She stopped long enough to issue a bubbly giggle. “Did somebody win the lottery?”

  Julia smiled. “Every time we see your face,” she said with a silly grin. “Now, get yourself a cup and come join the fun!”

  Nana Reed’s Sky High Recipes

  Berry Good Morning Muffins

  Ingredients

  3/4 cup all-purpose flour

  1 cup whole wheat flour

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1/2 cup unsalted butter

  1/3 cup granulated sugar

  1/3 cup light brown sugar

  2 large eggs

  2 ripe bananas

  1/3 cup milk

  1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

  1 cup frozen blueberries

  1/3 cup chopped walnuts

  Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

  2. Place paper liners in 12 muffin cups.

  3. Cream together butter and sugars, beating until fluffy.

  4. Add eggs separately before vanilla extract, baking soda and salt.

  5. Sift together whole wheat and all-purpose flours before adding to mixing bowl in 1/3-cup portions.

  6. Fold in crushed bananas, blueberries and chopped walnuts.

  7. Once all ingredients are mixed together, fill liners halfway with batter.

  8. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

  9. Cool muffins in tins briefly before moving to wire rack.

  Happy Bowwow Birthday Cake

  A special treat for our canine friends

  Ingredients

  1 cup whole wheat flour

  1/2 tsp baking soda

  1/8 cup vegetable oil

  1 egg

  1/2 cup peanut butter

  1/2 cup applesauce

  1/2 cup shredded carrots

  3/4 cup pumpkin purée

  1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

  Miniature dog biscuits
r />   Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

  2. Lightly grease 9 in. round cake pan with butter or cooking spray.

  3. In a large bowl, combine egg, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup pumpkin purée, oil and vanilla.

  4. Stir in carrots and apple sauce; mix thoroughly to combine.

  5. Sift together flour and baking soda.

  6. Combine wet and dry ingredients.

  7. Pour batter into prepared cake pan.

  8. Bake 38 to 40 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean.

  9. While cake is in the oven, prepare the frosting by mixing together 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup pumpkin purée.

  10. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack.

  11. When cake is completely cooled, frost and decorate with miniature dog biscuits.

  Neapolitan Ice Box Pie

  Ingredients

  For the Crust

  1-1/2 cups Dutch Chocolate Crisp Cookie crumbs (see next recipe)

  1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

  1/4 cup sugar

  1/2 cup melted butter

  For the Filling

  1/2 cup butter

  3/4 cup sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

  1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)

  1/2 package cream cheese (4 ounces), softened

  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

  1/8 teaspoon salt

  For the Topping

  2 cups whipping cream

  2 tablespoons granulated sugar

  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

  6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

  Cocoa and 1/2 cup sliced strawberries to garnish

  Directions

  For the Crust

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).