Murder Saves the Day: An Army Bell Mystery

By David Schwinger

Multimillionaire Ethan Barris sold his Internet startup and now greatly enjoyed teaching computer science to the brightest seniors at Laketown Science Academy, an all-girls school. He also reveled in insulting and humiliating his colleagues on the school faculty who he thought were mediocre losers.

Ethan found additional pleasure in having sex with several much younger women while bullying his long-time girlfriend into taking an action she would immediately deeply regret.

One morning, while leaving for work, Ethan was stabbed to death on his front porch. The police were making no progress, and super sleuth Amy Bell was hired by Ethan's one friend in the faculty to investigate the killing.

Amy soon realized that virtually everybody who knew Ethan strongly disliked him, except for his students who respected and admired him.

Who hated Ethan so much that they would kill him on that mid-September morning? Amy found it hard to believe any of her suspects would go that far. But somebody clearly did, and the beautiful and brilliant Amy represented the last best chance to solve the case.

Author David Schwinger, when not writing Amy Bell mysteries--there are now thirteen--enjoys composing songs, playing pickleball, and traveling the world with his wife, Sherryl. He first met Sherryl when she was his student in a mathematics class he taught at City College of New York. Their secret romance became the inspiration for his first Amy Bell mystery, The Teacher's Pet Murders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662433832

Book preview

cover.jpg

Murder Saves the Day

An Army Bell Mystery

David Schwinger

Copyright © 2021 David Schwinger

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

Although some named locations, such as City College, are real, all depictions of persons, events, and politics at any and all locations in this book are intended to be completely fictional.

ISBN 978-1-6624-3382-5 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-3383-2 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017, Afternoon

Monday, October 30, 2017, Evening

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Friday, November 3, 2017

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Friday, November 10, 2017

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Monday, November 13, 2017

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Friday, November 17, 2017

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Monday, November 20, 2017

Tuesday, November 21, 2017, Morning

Tuesday, November 21, 2017, Evening

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Friday, November 24, 2017

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Monday, November 27, 2017

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Friday, December 1, 2017

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Also by David Schwinger

The Teacher’s Pet Murders

Murder Spoils the Perfect Romance

Murder with Magic

Murder Takes the Top Prize

Murder on the Lido Deck

Letter-Perfect Murder

Willing to Murder

Retirement Was Murder

Reputation for Murder

Murder Couldn’t Wait

Murder Makes Music

Murder Hits the Campaign Trail

To all the wonderful teachers I’ve had at all levels of my education. You made a big difference in my life and countless others.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

At 8:10 a.m., Ethan Barris was just about ready to leave his secluded fifteen-year-old three-bedroom, three-bath ranch home in Laketown, New Jersey, and drive to work. He could have walked, which he sometimes did, but today, he wanted to arrive a bit early to work out a few details in his office before class.

Ethan smiled as he contemplated his amazing good fortune. Who else gets to leave home at eight, work from nine to ten thirty, and then be done and have the rest of the day free?

Well, of course, he also had one additional office hour per week, which was on Tuesdays, and periodic faculty meetings. But other than that, he just had to teach his double-period Intro to IT class to twenty highly intelligent young women—at least most of them were highly intelligent—who were high school seniors at Laketown Science Academy (LSA). In fact, Ethan didn’t view that as work. It was fun!

Life wasn’t always that easy for Ethan. He was the younger of two children whose parents never went to college and who both worked hard in unsatisfying jobs to keep a roof over their heads and have a decent life. They never let up in pressuring their children to study hard in school so as to not end up like they did.

Ethan earned a full scholarship to MIT, and at age thirty-three, he sold, for thirty-five million dollars, the Internet company he had started nine years earlier.

Now, ten years later, Ethan was doing exactly what he wanted, namely greatly enjoying life to the fullest and giving these wonderful young women their first look at the fantastic field of computer science and information technology.

He travelled extensively during most summers, took cruises during the winter and spring breaks, and spent many weekends going to shows and dining out in Manhattan, followed by overnighting at his luxury one-bedroom East Side condo, often in the company of a lady.

Of course, LSA was just as lucky to have Ethan as he was to be teaching there. His relationship with most of the other teachers was not good, but who cares? His students were what mattered, and most of them realized they were damn lucky to have him.

Additionally, there was now the possibility of another bonus for Ethan, similar to the bonuses he had secured during four of his previous six years teaching this course at LSA. Ethan had checked the student records and found the names of the three young ladies who would be his initial candidates. Luckily, all three were very attractive, and two of them seemed, at first glance, to be particularly promising.

But the fall semester had begun only a few weeks earlier, so Ethan wasn’t yet certain of the suitability of any of the three candidates. If necessary, Ethan had the names of a few students who would be his backup candidates.

The winning candidate would also secure a substantial bonus for herself, consisting of a high grade and a glowing recommendation, probably leading to a full college scholarship as with his previous winners. Yes, winners was the appropriate word. It was, indeed, a win-win situation!

Thinking about all this, Ethan felt a tingling excitement as he opened his front door and exited. However, his thoughts were almost immediately interrupted by the plunging of a knife into his body. He reached out and grabbed at his assailant, making some contact before the knife plunged in several more times. Ethan fell to the floor and died very shortly thereafter, lying on his front porch in a pool of blood. The killer dropped the murder weapon at the scene of the crime and departed, unobserved.

Weeks later, the police were making very little progress in solving Ethan’s murder. The killer would likely have gotten away with the crime if someone at LSA had not been told about and then contacted an extraordinarily perceptive—and good-looking—private detective who agreed to accept the case.

Monday, October 30, 2017, Afternoon

At one thirty-five, Amy Bell was sitting in her office at Spy4U Services—in Manhattan, located in the forties, just off Ninth Avenue—where she was vice president for sensitive investigations. Amy was overflowing with joy as she contemplated the fantastic news that had just been made public.

Amy had finished her lunch consisting of a six-inch Subway meatball sandwich that she had brought back to her office; and she decided to make a see, I told you so! phone call to her husband, Jeremy Green, a consulting actuary who, as usual, was working from their two-bedroom, two-bath co-op apartment in Greenwich Village. Jerry—that’s what she usually called him—would, unlike his wife, be very distressed to hear the big news.

Jerry, Jerry! Trump’s chickens are finally coming home to roost! George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the prosecutors about his role with Trump in colluding with Russia!

Amy was brought up in a family that was politically very liberal. Her parents had retired several years earlier and moved to Arizona, where her two brothers also lived. But Amy retained their progressive liberal views and despised Trump.

Her husband laughed. What did he plead guilty to?

Lying to the FBI. He was trying to hide the whole thing.

More laughter. Lying about what? Hiding what? Isn’t his field the Middle East and energy?

Jerry, you’re hopeless! Trump is now a dead man walking. How can you not see that?

Amy had first met Jeremy on a Friday evening in March 2007 at Marty’s, an East Side singles bar. At five foot eleven, he was seven inches taller than her. He was classically handsome with brown wavy hair and hazel eyes. They had progressed from torrid affair to friends with benefits to the realization that they had loved each other all along. They married in January 2010.

Amy told everyone who would listen that Jeremy was the best thing that ever happened to her in so many ways, except for one. How could she have fallen in love with a Reagan conservative? She had an answer to her own question; sometimes God smacks you in the ass, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

She had known that Jerry was conservative from the beginning. It came up in their conversation that first evening at Marty’s, and Amy had called him—among other things—a reactionary and a self-hating Jew. When she left Jeremy to get her coat and go home, he assumed that Amy despised him, and he exited Marty’s by a side door and went home.

In reality, Amy had been very attracted to Jeremy, and she had wanted him to go home with her. Luckily, on the advice of his friend Eddie, Jeremy decided to phone Amy the next day and give her another chance. She invited him to her apartment that evening, and as it turned out, Jeremy spent most of his time there in her bedroom.

Amy always said that marriage had made her a calmer, more tolerant person who was emotionally and sexually satisfied.

In addition, Jeremy often came up with thoughtful observations that had helped Amy solve some of her more difficult cases, including several murders. Murder cases had become somewhat of a specialty for Amy; some NYPD officers she dealt with called her Sherlock Bell. She had solved over a dozen murders.

But now she was stuck with a husband who liked and supported Donald Trump. As Amy’s best girlfriend Cathy liked to say, she went in with her eyes wide open. What’s worse, Jeremy was now actually laughing at Papadopoulos pleading guilty!

Sweetheart, I guess you’re right. If it weren’t for those sneaky colluding Russians and their devious escapades, I never would have voted for Trump. Now Jeremy was laughing so hysterically that he didn’t hear the click of Amy hanging up.

Amy’s frustration was interrupted by the ringing of her office phone. It was Chester Murray, the founder and president of Spy4U. He had hired Amy part-time in August 2003 and full-time upon her 2007 graduation from City College. Chester recognized Amy’s potential early on, mentored her, and promoted her to her current title in late 2009 after she solved the murders of three students in an adult education class she was taking. Now Amy supervised five people in addition to working on her own cases. She was widely recognized by her Spy4U colleagues as a star.

Hi, Amy. There’s a gentleman who has taken a day off from his teaching job in New Jersey to come here and request your services to investigate a murder. His name is Warren Barwood, and he’s in my office right now. I’ve been speaking to him for a while, and I think it’s your kind of case. Can you come on over?

Amy immediately forgot about Papadopoulos, Trump, and Jeremy. She surged with excitement. I’ll be there in five minutes.

When Amy arrived, Chester and his guest rose from their well-cushioned chairs to greet her, and the guest shook her hand. He was six foot one and looked very fit. He appeared to be in his early fifties. Hello, Ms. Bell. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please call me Warren.

Sure, and I’m Amy. They all took seats. So, Warren, who’s been murdered, and how did you hear about me?

Amy, I teach history and economics at Laketown Science Academy. LSA is a private science-oriented high school in Laketown, New Jersey. Eight months ago, at a New Jersey educators’ event, I met Jo Ann Mills, who teaches at a high school in Green Bridge.

Jo Ann Mills, interrupted Amy. I know that name, but from where? Don’t tell me. Let me think. Ten seconds later, she exploded, Yes, yes! She was engaged to marry Barry Durham. Barry was murdered, and I solved the case and helped bring the killer to justice! That was five years ago; I call it the ‘Magic’ case.

Warren smiled. "Yes, that’s her. Jo Ann and I volunteered to serve on the same committee, and during a recent committee meeting, I told Jo Ann about the September murder of a colleague at LSA. I told her that as far as I can determine, the police are making no progress in their investigation.

That’s when Jo Ann told me about you. She was convinced that without you, Barry’s murder would have remained unsolved. She said if I could afford your services, I should ask you to solve this new murder. She told me that as she understood it, I have to go through Spy4U in order to hire you. I checked you out on the web, and it looks like Jo Ann is absolutely right about you. So here I am.

"Warren, the next time you’re at a committee meeting, please remember to send