WE HAVE THE PLEASURE TO FEATURE AUTHOR, ROBIN LEEMAN DONOVAN,WHO IS SHARING CHAPTER 16 OF HER NOVEL, 'DOES IT COUNT AS SAVING A LIFE IF YOU JUST DON'T KILL SOMEONE?' #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat

Chapter 16

That night over dinner at our flat – Jon and Tom volunteered to barbecue ribs for everyone – we discussed our progress with the case. It was truly amazing to me how much ground we’d managed to cover in such a short time.

Tom had set up a workstation to test various parts from the materials that crashed at the scene. I had a strong feeling that he already knew exactly what happened, but true to form he was going to test out every part of his theory to ensure the highest level of accuracy.

Dominique appeared to have made the most progress in talking to her friend, Hermann. It seems the Polizei had already verified that the victim was an American. They located his hotel and were able to find all of his identification, including his passport. They were still unsure as to why this American had chosen to visit a ski area with no ski equipment or clothing except a mountain staff ski jacket that was not his. Actually, the Engelberg mountain is often the host of visitors who are not prepared to ski so this is not all that unusual until you combine it with the fact that he carried no identification and a “borrowed” mountain jacket. There was something very “off” about this particular visitor.

Further investigation chronicled our victim as a relatively shiftless individual. Apparently, he was from a rural area of Pennsylvania, but had moved around as his nefarious activities had caught up with him in each place he had lived. His name was Beauford “Beau” Jones. Jones had done some time in the State Correctional Institution in Albion, PA.

As I listened to Dominique’s recant of Officer Hermann’s findings, something about Beau’s Pennsylvania roots pushed at the corners of my mind. What was it about his being located in Pennsylvania that was niggling at me? Ahhh, forget it. The more I pushed myself the more I knew it would come to me in its own time, and not one minute sooner. I would have to be patient, and that was decidedly not my best attribute!

But why had this ‘ne’er-do-well’ foreigner been found dead in a tragic equipment failure, a possible accident, in a Swiss ski area? Was it just that the black cloud over his head in the U.S. had followed him to Switzerland and multiplied greatly upon touchdown? Was he an intended murder victim? Who here knew him and would want to kill him? Or was he, perhaps, a bungling failure of a murderer himself? And, if so, who was his intended victim? There were still way too many questions needing answers.

When we started to examine all of Beau’s history, the information that Hermann had discovered so far, a pattern of failure began to emerge. It seemed as though everything Mr. Jones had attempted had stupendously dissolved into unmitigated failure. This guy was the dictionary definition of Sad Sack.

Wisely, Hermann had advised Dominique that his research into Jones’ background had barely scratched the surface. It seemed as though our answers were more likely to emerge from the U.S. than from right here where the incident had occurred. Most unusual.

For a few moments we all sat, each lost in our thoughts, eating our barbeque.

“Pennsylvania,” Will said quietly, “I did some training there.”

Why was that word, Pennsylvania, pinging harder and harder against my brain? And still, it would not come to me.

*****

The next day Tom was hard at his make-shift workshop. Jon was by his side to lend a helping hand. I was flitting about feeling somewhat useless and trying not to bug Tom for answers before he felt ready.

Dominique had a nearly full day working with Lyra, and Babs and Peg had decided to explore their own “Swiss Connections.”  

I was reluctant to pursue the investigation much further without Dominique’s guidance. The last thing I wanted to do was upset or anger staffers, skiers and especially not the Polizei, but I was fully charged and ready for action!

As I roamed around the ski area in search of a task that would not end up causing more harm than good I ran into Dominique’s friend, Officer Bachmann.

“Ahh, Frau Leigh, I see you are on your own today. Have your friends all deserted you?” he asked with a chuckle.

“It appears so, Officer Bachmann. I am feeling kind of useless right about now, just hoping to stay out of trouble.”

“Well, let me share a bit of information that should help to change your outlook.”

I perked up immediately.

“It seems that Herr Jones had managed to accumulate an enormous number of enemies in his short time on earth. Our informants tell us that there were any number of people who would have paid good money to see him to his grave.”

That elevated my spirits even more! And he continued…

“I have learned that there is a town in Pennsylvania that is labeled ‘The Switzerland of America’ and it boasts the very unusual name of ‘Jim Thorpe.’”

“Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania?” I asked skeptically.

“That’s correct, Frau Leigh. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.”

Well, I’ll be damned.

“And furthermore, Jim Thorpe is where Herr Jones spent a great deal of his time, defrauding the good folks of Swiss heritage residing there. So, there are a great number of folks with Swiss ancestry who would happily attend the funeral of Beauford Jones. The connection is there.”

“That’s great! Oh, but that’s awful. We just widened the suspect pool from a handful of skiers and resort staff to anyone in Switzerland with a Swiss connection, native or tourist,” I lamented.

“Frau Leigh, we will take our investigation one step at a time and follow the thread that leads us to our answers. We do not despair at a widened suspect pool – it merely means that our journey to the truth is progressing.”

Wow, these Swiss police were deep thinkers. I was seriously impressed. But I was also feeling that niggling feeling about Pennsylvania. What could that possibly mean; would it shed any light on this investigation? And when would I remember what it was?

*****

When Dominique had finished her session with Lyra, she decided to stop off at the flat to see if anyone else had made it back. After a quick knock she determined that no one had returned yet, so she started to head out again. That’s when she ran into Babs and Peg all excited from their ‘Swiss connection’ quest.

Seeing them gave Dominique an idea. She had been thinking about doing some more due diligence at the Talstation (or lodge in U.S. vernacular) and its surroundings with a very specific purpose. It had occurred to her that no one interviewed had professed to setting eyes on the murder victim prior to finding him dead. She felt the need to explore this oddity further, and felt Babs and Peg would be the perfect team to accompany her in her mission given their successful sleuthing in the U.S.

Once apprised of her objective, Babs and Peg were ready and willing. The three hopped into Dominique’s car and headed back to Titlis ski area. The game plan, as outlined by Dominique, was to question everyone they saw on that one specific detail – had they seen this individual moving about the Station or its surrounding area? Dominique had secured a copy of the victim’s photo during one of her conversations with her friend, Hermann, still Officer Bachmann to us, for help with identification.

The three worked diligently trying to find even one individual who had seen the victim while still alive. The more folks they interviewed the more perplexed they became. How was it possible for someone who stood out like a sore thumb to elude attention from anyone at all? The question also arose that, if this man had successfully avoided being seen by literally everyone, was that something he’d done deliberately? If so, that would certainly make it seem as though he was not only the victim, but also the murderer. Why else would he have worked so hard to keep himself out of sight of everyone? And, if he was hiding from an assailant, why hide in a ski area with no evidence of being a skier?

One thing we felt sure of, no one would fly to a foreign country and select an environment even more foreign to them, and in which they stood no chance of blending in, to commit suicide. So, we felt justified in ruling that out altogether.

Dominique felt there was one last place to check. At the side of the après ski chalet, at the bottom Station, that was the most obscure, with no views of either the parking lot or the mountain, there was an attic storage room. Staffers were in and out of this room on a regular basis looking for anything from foodservice utensils to cleaning products and even lift ticket paraphernalia and bar equipment. She believed that if the three waited around the storeroom for an hour or so they would manage to interview the folks who frequented that area. If the victim had been hiding in that storeroom, it was these staffers who would likely have noticed something unusual or out-of-place.

As they waited Babs and Peg regaled Dominique with stories of our prior sleuthing. Time went by quickly as Dominique laughed at the various challenges we had faced. Babs being Babs both talked and walked around inside the storage room inspecting every inch and every box stored.

At one point, the 4 pm bartender getting ready for his shift, stopped by for a case of soda. The three immediately began to quiz him as to whether or not he’d seen Beau Jones. Although he denied actually having seen the man, he did recall that some of the boxes that had been stacked in the corner for years had been moved to another section of the room. It hadn’t registered with him until Peg asked if he’d noticed anything unusual.

As far as Dominique and her crew were concerned, they had finally found evidence that Beau had not only been in the lodge prior to his last and final visit under the wreckage of the ski rack, but he had been intent on hiding. That was a huge finding. Either Beau had been hiding from a potential murderer who was out to get him or Beau had been a potential murderer out to get someone else. But once again, who?

The team was satisfied they had garnered the information they’d set out to get and were preparing to head out. True to form, Babs decided she’d help the bartender locate and move everything he needed even though he assured her he was more than capable of handling the task on his own.

“No need to worry, young man,” Babs assured him, “I know what a pain this kind of stuff can be and I’m happy to help in any way you need.”

As she was reassuring the bartender, Babs noticed he was about to step on an unstable looking floorboard. Realizing that she would not be able to explain her concerns in time she did what she thought would fix everything, she yanked on the board to right it just as the bartender was stepping down.

Dominique and Peg watched in horror as the bartender stepped down on air. His leg went right through the floor landing him hard on his butt with his other leg in an unlikely position.

“Oh god,” said Peg, “here we go.”

“But I, you know I,” Babs sputtered.

“So, this is what Donna was talking about.” Dominique lost no time in checking on the bartender’s injuries. Before she had made a complete assessment, three other staffers came flying up the stairs hoping to find the owner of the leg that was now hanging down over the kitchen prep area.

With everyone working together they managed to free up the bartender’s leg, which seemed to be fine. His other leg, however, had suffered some injury when abruptly slammed into the floor. The hope was that it was nothing more than a sprain, but it was necessary to try and locate the staffers trained in first aid in order to determine the necessary steps.

*****

Once back at the flat, Dominique shared their findings with Jon, Tom and me. But first, she entertained them with the soon to be legendary story of Babs, the bartender and his dangling leg.

After hearing all about the storeroom and the bartender’s observations everyone had to agree that Beau had been hiding there for some reason – and that fact alone indicated that this incident was far more nefarious than a simple but tragic accident. It would be especially interesting to hear of Tom’s findings. Should he find evidence of foul play it would leave no doubt whatsoever that this was indeed a murder – or an attempted murder gone wrong. After that heavy realization, talk of Babs and her latest faux pas helped to lighten up everyone’s mood. Babs continued to sputter her justification to no avail.

“Honey,” I stopped her, “don’t even bother, your reputation precedes you.”

“You know,” Dominique observed, “now I really feel as though I am officially part of the team!”

Babs beamed. I just rolled my eyes.

**********

https://tinyurl.com/2xsdgdho

Author Robin Leemann Donovan

AUTHOR BIO

Robin Leemann Donovan is the author of the blog, Menologues, which is a humorous yet informative look at the trials and tribulations of menopause by someone who’s been there. Menologues has been republished on two commercial sites: Vibrant Nation and Alltop, and has won regional honors for social media.

Donovan was born and raised in New Jersey, but lived and worked in Connecticut for a number of years before moving to Nebraska in 1999. Starting her career as a high school English teacher, Donovan moved into advertising in the early 80s. In 1999, she accepted a job offer from the legendary Bozell, a global ad agency that was founded in Omaha. In late 2001, she and three colleagues purchased the original Omaha office of Bozell from its New York based parent company. In 2021 she was named an Enterprising Woman of the Year by the national publication Enterprising Women. In December of 2023, Donovan sold Bozell to a group of employees and retired to focus on murder mysteries and French Bulldogs not to mention, a bit of skiing.

Donovan lives with her husband and two French Bulldogs, Frank and Ellie in their home in Eden, Utah.

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COMING SOON: On Friday, 24th October, we are featuring our fabulous team member, author Lorraine Carey, who is sharing Chapter 10 of her naughty and hilarious novel, 'Leona's Legacy'.