Chapter Four

The wake was scheduled at McCanns Funeral Home. Thursday March 12th. There were to be calling hours from 2-5 and 7-9. The funeral was scheduled for Friday at 10:00 A.M.. Chris was driving down from Vermont for the service. She would be staying at Terri’s during her visit to Boston.

The wake was more crowded than Terri thought it would be. People from the school attended.

Chris arrived in plenty of time to make the first calling hours of the wake. She and Terri made up the receiving line for Ann Marie.

Students attended as well as the staff from the college. Ann Marie had friends that Terri never realized.

Stephen Lukas also attended the wake. He stayed close to Terri though she wondered why. He asked Terri the questions she had avoided when she met him previously in the cafeteria. “You discovered Ann Marie’s body?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered abruptly.

“It was you who called the police?” he persisted.

“Yes, Stephen.”

“What did you think about when it happened?”

“That my best friend had been murdered and the police had to be told.” Her answers were curt and almost hostile.

“Still you handled yourself well.”

Terri moved away from the man and said, “This is not the time to talk. about it. Let’s drop it.”

“Certainly, I just wondered.“

“I can see that.

He drifted away from her while the next group of people paid their respects.

She felt relieved at seeing him go. It was so difficult to spend any time with him. It was painful to her under the best circumstances, but all his questions were too much to take.

Several people had questions about why the coffin was closed. The fact was Terri could not bear to see her friend’s face for any length of time, more than because of the murder and autopsy. Those scars could be hidden by clothing Ann Marie was wearing. It had been Terri’s choice to close the coffin and she was not sorry she had.

Chris asked Terri how she was bearing up under the strain. Terri responded, “Chris, this is so difficult, I just want to sit and cry. Ann Marie was just getting her life together after the tragedy and now this. I wish there was something I could do to change the facts. How are you doing?”

“I’ll be all right, but I know exactly how you feel. This is all so unfair. Hadn’t Ann Marie suffered enough?”

“I think she had been through so much. This is really awful.”

“I’m grateful this is a closed coffin ceremony. Having to look at her would have been much more difficult. Thank you for making that decision.”

”I never expected this many people to show up. I feel glad for Ann Marie that so many people cared about her.”

“I know what you mean, these are friends, not just curiosity seekers.”

“So many people had tremendous respect for her. I know I did. Having this attendance at this wake proves the amount of people who cared about her.”

It was time for a break in the wake hours so Chris and Terri went out to dinner. They talked about what Terri had been trying to discover form the printouts. She had discovered two names that had no case file , Plato and Peanuts. The names appeared at the beginning of the session logs, but neither party spoke to anyone throughout the chat line. This seemed suspicious to both Chris and Terri. Chris asked, “Do you intend to go to the police about this? It could be important.”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I’m making too much of this. Neither Plato or Peanuts is on-line all the time. Maybe there is no connection between either on of them and the murder.”

“It just might help Detective O’Mailley. Why don’t you call him and tell him?”

They ate dinner in silence thinking about what Terri had said about the two names. Chris felt certain it was important, Terri didn’t feel quite sure.

When dinner was over Chris said, “We need to find out more about Plato and Peanuts. Since they aren’t in the member’s directory maybe the police can help.”

“Chris, maybe you’re right, but Detective O’Mailley has already warned me about playing arm chair detective. He might not be too happy about following up on his lead.”

“We’ll have to talk about this later. We have just enough time to get back to the wake.”

Terri and Chris went back to the wake in plenty of time to greet the first mourners. This service had even more people than the first calling hours. Ann Marie had many people who cared about her, neighbors, acquaintances from every day tasks, like shopping or the hair salon. There was a steady flow of staff members from the college. Chris and Terri spent a great deal of time with all the people who had showed up. They tried to find out how many guests would also be attending the funeral for the funeral director Mr. McCann. They would need two cars just for the flowers, plus a limousine for Chris and Terri. Most of the people who had attended the wake planned on going to the funeral. The burial would be at St. Michael’s Cemetery where Ann Marie’s family had been buried.

The wake was over and Terri brought Chris to her house to say over night. they talked about what she learned about Plato and Peanuts. They still came to no decision. Terri was hesitant about involving the police. Chris did not see how it could hurt. Finally Terri showed Chris the printouts from the previous months Ann Marie had been making copies for two months for Terri. There was a lot of paperwork to go through, but Terri had spent hours pooling over the printouts. Chris looked at the type outs and noted the names across the top to show who was on-line. It was a good system to identify who you were talking to at any given session. Chris saw how many times over the months Plato and Peanuts had been listening to the Friendly Connection. She wondered how anyone had fun not participating in the chat line. It seemed odd to her and she said, “Terri, you have to call the police about this it seems important to me, let them decide what it means.”

“I think you are right. The more you say, the more I’m inclined to think I should do what you say. Why do these two people keep such low profiles? AI was hoping to learn something from the membership directory about either one of them. I still think Philip and Normand are suspicious also. Philip did answer my questions that he was from Virginia. I think everyone on the chat line was surprised he answered me. How do I know if he really is from Virginia? He could be lying about that to keep himself out of the area, so I wouldn’t suspect him. Just because most of the people do no know Rosie is dead, the murderer does. He also knows the connection that existed among the three of us because we always talked in a private room rather than on the party line. Several people mentioned that to me when I was on-line with the Friendly Connection last night. I chose not to say anything about Rosie because I wanted to see how people would act without knowing Ann Marie was dead. I wish we had that data disk from the night of her murder!

“After the funeral I intend to go on-line and tell everyone about Rosie to see what they say.”

“Do you think that is wise?”

“I think it is one of the things I will do. That, and call the police about Plato and Peanuts>“

Chris and Terri talked for awhile longer then they got ready for bed. Chris had the twins old bedroom. Terri had three children: a boy, and twin girls. They all lived out of the state or they would have attended Ann Marie’s wake and funeral. In fact Stephen, the oldest child, was a photographer who lived in France. He was twenty-five. The twins were Carol and Jenny age twenty four. Carol attended UCLA trying to get her masters in English. Jenny attended the University of Alaska trying to get her maters in liberal arts.

The two women got up without the alarm ringing to awaken them. They got dressed and met in the kitchen for breakfast. They left in Terri’s car. They drove to the funeral and parked her car in the parking lot. They went into the funeral home and got the last minute information for what car they would be in. They got into the limousine to go to the cemetery. Terri was to give the eulogy at the graveside. She hoped it went well because it was important to her.

She silently practiced what she wanted to say during the drive there. Her words were carefully chosen to express what she thought of the dead woman. There was great she wanted to say.

The service went well and Terri gave Ann Marie’s eulogy. There was no one left unaffected by what she had to say.

When the service was over the limousine drove Terri and Chris back to the funeral home.

Terri did what she said she would do about the Friendly Connection as soon as the women got to her house. She had gone upstairs to her study and used her computer to log on-line to the chat line. She said hello as her screen name Teach. Rooster was on-line and said, “Hello, Teach. How are you today?”

Terri answered, “I’m fine, Rooster, how about you?”

“Teach, I’m fine, what brings you on-line this early? Most of the people you spoke with the other day, aren’t on yet.”

“I wanted to speak to friends of Rosie’s because I have some bad news.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rosie is dead. I was just at her funeral. I wanted to tell her friends about it.”

Rooster was silent for a few minutes before she said, “Teach, that is a real shock! How long have you known?”

“Just the past few days?”

She decided not to let on exactly how long she had known.

“Teach, what happened? How did she die?”

“She was murdered.”

“What?”

“Will you tell the others? I have company staying over.”

“Of course. I am so sorry to hear about this.”

“Me too. Thanks. Good-bye.”

Terri felt better that she had told at least on member of the chat line. She was grateful that Rooster had not asked as many questions as she had thought she would.

She faced her next chore. She dialed the number to the police station and got the switchboard. She asked for Detective O’Mailley. He answered at his extension, “Hello, O’Mailley here. Can I help you?”

Terri answered, “This is Terri Lukas and I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What can I do for you?”

“It’s about those printouts from the computer.”

“What about them?”

“There are two people who go on-line without announcing themselves to everyone. They just listen to the conversations on the chat line.”

“Is that unusual?”

“Yes, Detective O’Mailley, it is or I would not have mentioned it. There are two other members who stay on-line and never actually get involved in the chat line. They only listen but they are registered with the Member’s Directory. It is almost as if these two unregistered members have something to hide.”

“Are you registered?”

“”No, I am not, neither is my cousin Chris.”

“Why is that?”

“I just don’t feel comfortable about it.”

“Couldn’t it be the same thing for these other members?”

“I suppose so, but I don’t listen in on the chat line. As a matter of fact on the Friendly Connection I used private rooms to speak to my cousin and Ann Marie.”

“I don’t understand what you mean?”

“The entire system is set up like a gigantic club house with different rooms for different groups and many private rooms for personal conversation. Sometimes on the party line it gets so hectic three or four messages break in before your question is answered. It gets difficult to carry on a conversation with just one or two people.”

“I don’t think I would like that much.”

“I’ve tried it and people from all around the country are on it. It gets hectic, but I understand why Ann Marie liked it. She got involved with a special room called Reach Out, for people with any type of disability. They were helpful to her.”

“Mrs. Lukas, I don't understand what exactly you want me to do.”

“I want you to find out about the two members without any information on file. I know you can approach the National On-Line Service about them. I am sure there is a link to the murders.”

“I just might take your advice about this because it sounds suspicious to me. The more information we have the better, but this might turn out to be a dead end.”

“I know that, but it would explain why the data disk was missing. Someone shut the computer down after the murder. Did any one check if it was just shut off or shut down properly? It seems as if the killer knew his way around a computer.”

“To answer your question the system was shut down properly, there were no temporary files. If the time hadn’t been taken to do that I might ignore the request you made, but we have no other leads. I really appreciate all the help I can get, but I caution you to be careful about this. Amateur detectives often end up in danger or dead. I wouldn’t want that to happen with you.”

“Neither would I. I’ll be careful. Thanks for the concern.”

“I’m serious, be careful. I’ll let you know what I find out. What are the names you need checked?”

“Plato and Peanuts.”

“Thanks for the tip. I’ll be in touch. Is there anything else?”

“No, that was it. Good-bye.”

After Terri got off the phone she explained her conversation with Detective O’Mailley to Chris. She was impressed with his cooperation but she worried about what he said about amateur detectives.

Terri said. “I shouldn’t worry too much because no one on-line knows who I really am. He was just trying to frighten me.”

“Well, it sure frightened me. Maybe you should cool it and leave things to the police.”

“I’m simply not made that way.”

“Maybe you should force yourself to be less involved. Do you plan on getting on the chat line again today?”

“When it gets later and there are more of Rosie’s friends on-line, I do.”
“That is just what I mean. Maybe you shouldn’t. One of them is bound to know you knew Ann Marie was already dead the last time you were on the Friendly Connection. What will you say if someone asks?”

“Chris, I don’t have to admit that I discovered the body. I’m just saying I’ve known a few days. I could have found out the day of the wake, or right after I got off the chat line.”

“Okay, maybe so but I still think you are tempting fate.”

“Why don’t I make us a late lunch and we can discuss whether I’m getting on the chat line later.”

Both women ate their meals in silence, but after the dishes were done they began talking again.

“Terri, what do you expect to prove from getting so involved with the Friendly Connection?”

“I want to know everyone’s reaction. Getting on-line is the only way I have of doing that so just let it go. You won’t change my mind.”

After a few hours of reading the printouts of Ann Marie’s data disks, Chris could understand why Terri was adamant about her choice to reach the Friendly Connection.

It approached 7:30 P.M. and Terri turned on her computer to set up a data disk for downloading the files from that night’s conversations. She turned on her modem, then typed a message to get on-line and hear the reactions of Ann Marie’s friends. It was late enough that some members of the chat line would have been told by Rooster what had happened.

“Rooster, this is Teach again. How are you doing?”

“I still can’t believe what happened to Rosie. It was such a shock!”

“Have you had time to tell anyone on the chat line about Rosie?”

“I told HeathCliff, Toffee, Ziggy, Amber and Jesse.”

“Teach, this is Ziggy. I was just waiting to cut in and tell you how sorry I am about Rosie. What happened?”

“Her throat was cut.”

“How awful!”

“Teach, this is Jesse, how are you holding up?”

“Pretty well, Jesse. How about you?”

“Teach, this is Amber, I was so stunned to hear about Rosie.”

“Amber, it was quite a shock to find out that Rosie was dead.”

“Teach, this is Toffee. Is there anything that I can do to help?”

“No, Toffee, I’m managing to cope.”

“Teach, this is Ziggy. I feel terrible about Rosie, I wish there was something I could do to help you. I know you were really close friends. How is Glad1 taking this?”

“Ziggy, Glad1 is here with me right now. She attended the funeral with me. She is handling it all right.”

“Teach, Toffee again, let us know if we can help.”

“Everyone, good night I have to sign off now. Thanks for the support.” Terri typed her thoughts quickly and signed off.

After Terri got off the chat line she said to Chris, “Everyone I spoke with seemed genuine but both Plato and Peanuts were on line. Neither one of them said anything to me. That makes me more curious about them. Why didn’t one of them say they were shocked or sorry to hear about Rosie? Doesn’t that seem odd to you, Chris,” she asked as she finished shutting down her computer.

“This seems dangerous to me. Maybe you should listen to Detective O’Mailley? I’m afraid of this whole approach.”

“Don’t worry I’m not in any danger yet.”

“Terri, what do you mean by yet?”

“I haven’t told anyone on the chat line what I suspect.” She got up from the computer and crossed over to where Chris was sitting.

“This is not a game. There is a murderer out there. We don't even know why he picked Ann Marie who was such a nice person that I can’t imagine why.”

“Try not to worry because I know what I am doing.”

Chris got up and walked over to where Terri was standing in the doorway. She gave her a hug and said, “Promise me you’ll leave the detective work to the police. I’m scared.”

“Chris, I can’t do that. I know it has something to do with the Friendly Connection, maybe even Reach Out. I’m too close to the problem to leave it alone. You loved Ann Marie, don’t you want to find her killer?”

“Of course, but are we going about this safely?”

“What could be safer? Come on, let’s go have some coffee and talk about what is really on your mind.”

They went down to the kitchen and Terri made a pot of coffee. The two women sat at the kitchen table.

“What are you thinking?”

“Just this, what do you think we can do to solve this mystery?” she said as she took a mouthful of coffee.”

“We can keep gathering data to help the police. Detective O’Mailley said they need all the help they can get.”

“Okay, count me in. What can I do?”

“It’s somewhere on those printouts, something we are missing. I just feel that so strongly!”

“”You have been over those type outs a dozen times and found nothing at all that helps us get any leads.”

“That is not true,” she answered as she took a drink from her coffee mug. “We have discovered that Plato and Peanuts are on-line, but don’t make any comments. That is suspicious, don’t you think, Chris? Why don’t they ask some questions or make some remarks.”

“I can’t answer that. It does seem odd. Everyone who knew about Rosie’s death made some comment except them. Don’t they know that their names appear at the top of the screen whenever they area on-line?”

“I don’t know, but their names have been on every type out I have checked so far. Every type out doesn’t have any entry from them when Ann Marie had been on-line. That is significant. We have to find out who they are and why they don’t respond to any other members on-line? I am glad I told Detective O’Mailley about them. He can go directly to the company and find out who they are and what they are up to? We need to hear more about them?”

“You area right about that! I wonder what would happen if someone asked them a direct question?”

“That could prove to be dangerous.” She sipped her coffee and added as an afterthought, “It could also tip them off.”

“Tip them off?”

“Yeah, that we area suspicious of them.”

“I suppose you are right about that. It is better to let the police find out the facts for us. That is if they tell us what they learn.”

“I don’t know if they will share what they find out with us. I’m sure Detective O’Mailley has already made his inquiries and we have heard nothing so far.”

“They might think it is too dangerous for us to know.”

“It might prove to be more dangerous for us to not know who they are.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if they are responsible for any of this , they could mean us harm also.”

“Do you think so, Terri? I am afraid we may be in danger already.”

“Everyone on the chat line is a potential victim until they find out why Ann Marie was killed.”

“It is all so senseless. Ann Marie was a wonderful woman who never caused problems for anyone why would anyone want to kill her?”

“Maybe she knew something she didn’t realize she knew that was a danger to someone on the chat line?”

“What if we are wrong and it doesn’t have anything to do with the chat line? What then?”

“I am convinced I am right. We just have to keep going over those printouts. Until we come up with the solution.”

“I suppose you are right,” said Chris as she got up from the table and brought her cup over to the sink. Turning from the sink she said, “Why do you feel so certain that Ann Marie’s death has something to do with the chat line? She returned to her chair.

“I know she spent most of her spare time on the service. Reach Out was a huge part of her life. I can’t imagine that it has nothing to do with her death.”

“That is all you have to go on.”

“No, that is not all, she was at her computer when she was killed and no data disk was found . Someone took that disk. That ties in with the chat line.“

“I can understand that. Maybe you are right about the connection.”

”I don’t have any doubts.”

“I know that.”

“If we put our minds to it then I think we can solve this mystery.”

“I wish I had your confidence. I have my doubts.”

“We discovered that Plato and Peanuts are on-line without participating in any conversation. That means something significant to me. Either one of them could be responsible for Ann Marie’s death. We need to know why they do what they do. I hope Detective O’Mailley tells us who these two are. I think that there is a strong possibility that one or the other of them is involved in Ann Marie’s death.”

“Do you honestly think it will be that simple?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Maybe you are right. I don’t know. Poor Ann Marie.”

Terri got up from the table and went over to the sink. She washed the coffee cups and put the cups upside down in the dry side of the double sink. She walked back to her chair at the table and sat down.”

“Chris, let’s call it a night and call Detective O’Mailley in the morning to see what he says about what he has discovered. Let’s get some sleep, come on.”

The two women went up the stairs, Terri to her room and Chris to the twins room and then they went to bed though neither of them slept well.