Killer Sweet Tooth

Epilogue

AS IT turns out, Juanita was right. John was her George/Jorge and whoever else he claimed to be. He and his cousin ran all sorts of small-time criminal operations between Mexico and the United States. One of those operations was bringing the families of Mexican girls into the United States with the promise of marriage for the girl and a better life for her family. The groom would then do something—like have other girlfriends show up—to make the girl call off the wedding, and they’d stick her parents with a huge, bogus bill.

John’s cousin also knew some prostitutes who would steal hotel room keys from men visiting the Nuevo Laredo red-light district and sell the keys to him. The cousin would then use the keys to get into the men’s rooms and steal their valuables. Their favorite? The Redbird Hotel, of course.

The cousin had an accomplice who lived in Laredo, Texas. This man would get the valuables to John for him to fence at various locations during his travels with the EIEIO. When the cousin’s accomplice was arrested and jailed on an unrelated theft charge, John’s cousin needed another mule. Dr. Bainsworth was willing to do the job for the money offered him.

The police had found jewelry appraisals at Dr. Bainsworth’s home that indicated he’d had a couple pieces of the jewelry appraised when he crossed the border back into the United States. Bainsworth realized the thief didn’t know what valuable pieces he had. He decided to hang on to the jewelry rather than meet John as he’d promised.

When John learned the EIEIO was coming to Brea Ridge for a benefit concert and to enjoy some downtime, he did his own reconnaissance. He learned Dr. Bainsworth was separated from his wife, and he started seeing Angela. Angela was more bitter than she’d let on about the divorce. Like Myra and me, she couldn’t figure out why her husband would cheat on her with the ugly duckling Jill. Her vulnerability had left the door wide open for John to step through.

When he was comfortable enough in their affair, John told her about Dr. Bainsworth’s transaction with his cousin in Mexico. Angela was only too willing to give John a key to the office in order to recover the stolen jewelry. She stood to gain a small finder’s fee and the satisfaction of thwarting her estranged husband.

That Friday night after the EIEIO got into town, Angela drove John to the dental office. She dropped him off and drove to the back of the Sunoco to wait. Neither of them could have anticipated Myra would lose a filling that night and require Dr. Bainsworth to come into his office. When Angela saw her husband’s SUV pull into his office, she panicked and left. Her conscience got the best of her, though, and she returned to the Sunoco to pick up John, whose thick winter coat hid his bony frame.

John had already looked through the office and was in the exam room when Dr. Bainsworth came in. He hid behind the door and smashed Dr. Bainsworth over the head with an iron doorstop. The police had already found the doorstop and tagged it as evidence, but there had been no fingerprints on it since John had wiped it clean. He claimed to Officers Halligan and Kendall that he never meant to hit the dentist so hard.

After Scottie picked me up and swung me around at the convention hall, the microphone had started going in and out. That’s why Ben and Mark weren’t sure what was going on when John first threatened Myra and me. Prior to setting up outside the convention hall, Mark had brought Officers Halligan and Kendall up to speed. Upon seeing the two of us come out with John, they decided it would be best to hang back and secure further evidence against him. Mark recognized John as Angela’s lover, but they had no idea the man had a gun.

Scottie and the rest of the Elvises have left town. Scottie told me he “sure hated” that John turned out to be such a worm and gave me a bonus, what he called hazardous duty pay. Who knew you could earn hazardous duty pay for feeding a bunch of Elvis impersonators?

So, for the time being, things are back to normal . . . whatever that is. Myra is dating Mark now. She’s hoping to put her trench coat, sunglasses, and fedora to good use again soon.

If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on my cake. I’m making a coconut cake for Ben. It’s his favorite. He’s bringing pizza and a movie, and we’re celebrating his decision to let his assistant editor take over some of the responsibilities of the paper so he can spend more time with me.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FIRST OF all, I’m thankful to God as always for the many blessings he’s given me and my family. I’d also like to thank my agent, Robert Gottlieb, for his encouragement and belief in me and this series; editors Danielle Poiesz and Kathy Sagan; publicist Ayelet Gruenspecht; DeeDee, Lora, and Regina for contributing recipes; and, as always, Tim, Lianna, and Nicholas for their love and support.