Jamie Quinn Cozy Mysteries Collection

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Things just kept getting worse and all I wanted was to go back to my imaginary symphony. Was that so much to ask?

Now, I know I should've told my aunt what was going on when I had the chance, but I couldn't do it. You might judge me for it--but you weren't there. When Margaret Muller says she can't take much more, she means it, and I didn't want to be the one to push her over the edge. Still, I needed to know how the didgeridoo ended up in Spike's office, so I eased into asking Aunt Peg about it. Her explanation made sense to me: Adam had been teaching himself to play, and wanted to show off for Spike, so he brought the didgeridoo to his lesson the week before. Unfortunately, I knew that my nemesis, Nick the state attorney, wouldn't see it that way at all. To him, it would be proof that Adam had planned the attack. I spent a few more minutes comforting my aunt and then wrapped up the call, promising to keep in touch.

Although it was after midnight, and officially Tuesday, I was too wired to even try to sleep, so I went back to my scavenger hunt. First, I googled the music teachers. There was a married couple, Steve and Rosa Michaels. Steve taught trumpet and saxophone, Rosa taught flute and piccolo. My search revealed they had been high school sweethearts at Hollywood Hills High, where they'd played in band together. How cute!

The only other teacher, aside from Spike, was Olga Gonzalez, who taught piano and guitar. Nothing came up on her. While I was at it, I figured I'd do a search for Marian Wolinsky, the treasurer of Spike's corporation. I found that she managed a fan site dedicated to Spike, in all of his awesomeness. There were photos of Marian and Spike together all over the site. Marian looked like a biker chick, leather vest, tight jeans, black boots, and lots of tattoos. In almost every picture, she was looking at Spike adoringly. I wonder how much he had to pay her to do that!

Next up, the Broward Clerk's website, to search for criminal and civil court records. Not surprisingly, Spike had over a dozen speeding tickets and other traffic-related offenses, as well as drug possession charges from way back. The civil records told another story: Spike and Spike Enterprises, Inc. (d/b/a The Screaming Zombie), were being sued by none other than Snake, Slasher and Slime, a/k/a Daryl, Marcus and Ricardo, a/k/a the rest of the Zombies! The suit was over Spike's use of the band's name for his store. The plaintiffs were accusing Spike and Spike Enterprises, Inc., of unjust enrichment, trademark infringement, etc. That sure sounded like bad blood to me, but was it a motive for murder? I made more notes on my legal pad.

While I was on the court website, I ran Spike's name through probate and found that someone had already opened an estate for him. Only the personal representative can open the estate, so I scrolled down to see who that was. Drum roll, please….it was… Marian Wolinsky! I definitely needed to have a chat with this lady. I also planned to visit the courthouse to read Spike's will. Since Spike's beneficiaries stood to profit from his death, I wanted to know who they were. My legal pad was filling up.

Finally, I ran criminal checks on all of the staff. Marian had some old possession charges, as well as a charge of disturbing the peace, hardly shocking. She and Spike must've been partying pretty hard that night.

Olga Gonzalez, the piano teacher, had no criminal record, but the high school sweethearts were another story. It turned out Rosa Michaels had filed domestic violence restraining orders against Steve on three separate occasions, but then dismissed them. The most recent one was obtained only two weeks before Spike's death, and she had filed for divorce at the same time. It could be nothing, it could be something, but Steve sounded like a man in need of an anger management class, or two…

I'd had enough, my brain was fried. To quote Miss Scarlett, tomorrow is another day. I fell into bed, in search of Vivaldi.