“Miss Beatrice, you asked me to alert you if Mr. Alec was acting suspiciously. He is in his studio, I looked in the window and he is packing his canvases and paints.”
“Thank you, Jasper, Mr. Alec insists on opening another gallery in Evergreen. He will change his mind or I will change it for him.”
The elderly servant had been loyal to the senior Danforth’s and felt an obligation to carry that loyalty to their offspring. Mr. Wilbur and Mrs. Harriet were generous and caring people. Their daughter, Beatrice never showed those traits. Jasper was nearing his eightieth birthday, He was a young man when he began his service with the Danforth Estate. He would be forever grateful to his employers for the opportunity to work in such fine surroundings. Jasper barely remembered the woman who gave birth to him, she died when he was a youngster. His father never got over his wife’s premature death and became a cold, indifferent man. Jasper wondered if his father missed him or even knew he was gone when he left home at sixteen.
Harriet Danforth was a volunteer at the homeless shelter in Hillsboro. She read stories to the children whose parents were experiencing hard times. Jasper found odd jobs in the neighborhood but never made enough money to afford a room in a boarding house. During the warm months, he slept in the park and picked scraps of leftover food from the trash cans behind the restaurants in the area. It was a cold winter night when he walked into the shelter for the first time. He slept soundly on a cot with a warm woolen blanket covering him. In the morning, he was served a filling breakfast of oatmeal and sausages. He’d forgotten what fresh warm food tasted like. He didn’t want to leave the shelter when he saw the snow piling outside. He looked up when he saw a beautiful woman dressed in warm clothing enter the shelter. She was smiling and greeted the children by name. Jasper watched and listened as her soothing voice read stories of foxes and birds to the wide-eyed children.
Harriet glanced up from the book and noticed a young man who wore tattered clothing and had a hollowness in his cheeks that broke her heart. She asked about the boy and was told it was his first time at the shelter. She introduced herself to Jasper and asked about his parents. When she discovered he was alone in the world, she invited him to come home with her.
Jasper had seen nothing like the Danforth Mansion before. He told the kind woman he was too dirty to step through the doorway.
“Nonsense, we have bathtubs and soap. You can bathe and I’m sure we can find you something clean to wear.”
Jasper worked in the kitchen, helped the maids with cleaning and kept the limousines spotless. He was well fed and gained twenty pounds in his first few months of living in the Danforth Mansion.
Little Beatrice Danforth was a toddler when Jasper began working for her parents. She was an unpleasant child, but he grew to love her as a sister. He vowed he would always protect and care for her as her parents had cared for him.
*****
“Miss Beatrice, pardon my intrusion, do you think Mr. Alec will be happier if he can display his work for others to see?”
“Don’t be insubordinate, Jasper. You are a servant and are not entitled to an opinion.” Beatrice knew she was being unkind, even for her, but she couldn’t bear Alec being away from her all day. Alec was the only good thing that had happened to her in her miserable life and she wasn’t about to let him go.
“I want you to go out there and tell Robert to unpack the limousine, Alec is not going anywhere. After you do that summon Alec to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jasper walked to the studio behind the main house.
“Mr. Alec, Miss Beatrice has requested I fetch you.”
“Jasper, you fetch a dog, not a person and you may tell my sister I am not a dog.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I have my orders.”
“I know, Jasper. I don’t know why you don’t retire from this place and live the rest of your life in peace away from Beatrice. I know she thinks she will change my mind about the gallery but not this time.”
******
“Beatrice, I’m busy, what do you want? As if I didn’t know.”
“Alec, you know what happens when you get upset, you need to stay here where I can protect you from yourself.”
“Beatrice, it’s time I faced the world again. I was never happier than when I was engaged to Laura. I don’t know why she left me but I am still young enough to find someone else to spend my life with. It wouldn’t hurt you to have a man in your life, a man other than your brother.”
“Need I remind you of our parents and the horrible accident you caused because you were angry?”
“No, you need not remind me again. You won’t let me forget it. I have no recollection of that day except what you tell me. I don’t remember the anger and even if I was angry, why would I cause their deaths?”
“You were angry because they wanted to send you to a boarding school. You didn’t want to leave your special sister, don’t you remember?”
“No, Beatrice, please don’t make me remember.” Alec covered his ears as he heard the explosion that haunted him all these years. Beatrice told him he left the kerosene lamp by the water heater and that was why his parents were dead. He didn’t remember having the kerosene lamp in his hand, it was daylight and there wouldn’t be a need for the light from the lamp.
“Come, Alec, come to your bedroom, you need to rest, you are getting anxious and you know what happens when you are upset.”
“No, Beatrice! What happens when I’m upset? You always make me take a pill. I don’t want to take pills any longer, I don’t want to take those stupid vitamins either. I’m leaving and you can’t stop me.”
Beatrice couldn’t believe Alec was defying her. He hadn’t been himself since that young blonde girl posed for him. She is trouble, she looks like that schoolteacher and it’s reminded him of his feelings for the insipid creature.
******
Alec’s hands were shaking and his head pounded as he walked out of the only home he’d known to the waiting limousine.
“Are you all right, sir?” asked Robert.
“Yes, I will be, Robert I should have done this long ago,” he said reflectively.
*****
Alec settled into his apartment. It took getting used to cooking his own meals and cleaning up after himself but he found his freedom refreshing. He purchased a small car for himself. He’d learned how to drive when he was a teenager. Beatrice never knew the family chauffeur was his driving instructor. It had been two weeks since he’d walked out of the Danforth Mansion. Jasper stopped by the newly opened Danforth Art Gallery one afternoon.
“Mr. Alec, I have debated whether to contact you about your sister. Miss Beatrice took to her bed the day you left. She asks about you and I am forced to tell her you haven’t been to the house to see her. I suppose I should mind my own business but I’m afraid her health is suffering.”
“I understand, Jasper and I’m sorry to put you in an awkward position. I thought it best to keep my distance until Beatrice accepts the way it will be from now on.”
“Begging your pardon, Mr. Alec, I detect a difference in your demeanor. I believe you have made the right decision.”
“I appreciate that, Jasper. I will admit I have never felt more relaxed. I will drop by the mansion to visit Beatrice this evening.”
*****
Shortly after Jasper left the gallery, Joanna Garretson gingerly the door.
“Joanna, I wondered if you would stop by. I know I frightened you with my behavior the last time we met. I assure you, I meant you no harm.”
“I know you would never hurt me, Alec. I wanted to see your gallery, Brooke Kincaid tells me she has helped with the design. It’s impressive.”
“Brooke is too modest, she did the entire gallery and my apartment too. The studio is spacious and filled with natural light. I have been doing some of my best work these last couple of weeks. Brooke and Molly are helping me prepare for my official open house next Saturday, I hope you will come.”
�
��I will be here, in fact, I will assist Molly with the floral arrangements, I know you will be happy with her designs. Alec, I wanted you to know that Laura Abbott is planning a visit to Hillsboro. How do you feel about that?”
“Laura is coming here? I hope she will see me; she left Hillsboro so suddenly, I must have upset her.”
“She had her reasons although it wasn’t anything you did. She has been teaching fifth grade in Pineridge since she left Hillsboro. Molly and I have met with her; she isn’t married and I don’t think she has much of a social life.”
“Are you saying I still have a chance with her, Joanna?”
“I don’t know, Alec, but it’s worth a try. Now, I’d like the grand tour of your place. Molly wanted my opinion on her floral choices.”
Alec gladly showed off his gallery and studio, he felt excited to think he would see Laura again. He wouldn’t ask her why she left him and why she threw his ring in the lake. All he cared about was seeing her if only for a short time.
*****
Beatrice waited impatiently for Alec to arrive that evening. She’d skipped lunch and dinner thinking it would make her look pitiful and he would stay with her to comfort her.
“Beatrice, what are you doing in bed. For heaven’s sake, woman, get up and find something productive to do. Your roses need pruning, you trust no one to care for them the way you do.”
“Oh Alec, why are you being so heartless? Can’t you see I am a broken woman because you left me? I shall get out of my bed only if you will move back to our home.”
“Then you might as well stay right where you are. Beatrice, I don’t want to live in this museum any longer. I have my own place and the move is long overdue. We will always be brother and sister but we both need our space. You could join a club or volunteer like our mother used to. You and I both need friends and I plan to make some.”
“Alec, if you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back. You will no longer be my brother.”
“So be it,” Alec said as he turned and walked out the door not stopping until he reached his car. Beatrice stared at him from the window wondering when he learned to drive an automobile. She threw a vase across the room and rang her bedside bell until Jasper appeared in the doorway.
“Get me my dinner,” she bellowed. She would figure out a way to get Alec to come home but for now, she was famished.
Chapter Sixteen
“Joanna, I didn’t know you would be at the gallery yesterday,” cried Molly. “I planned to go with you in this morning, I know you don’t feel comfortable being alone with Alec.”
“I don’t know what it is about that man, he frightens me but I can’t seem to stay away from him. I’m attracted to him because of Laura. Not in the romantic way but as her surrogate. I know that sounds crazy.”
“No, I understand. Laura was an important part of your life when she was your teacher. You and she look remarkably similar and your instinct is to get the two of them back together. He didn’t upset you, did he?”
“Not at all, in fact, he differs from the man I saw when Travis and I met him at his studio. He is much calmer and not frightening at all.”
“Brooke said he’s a new man. I wonder if the pills he was taking had more to do with his mood swings than we thought. Brooke said she saw him throw them in the trash can and that was the day he moved.”
“You might be right about his sister drugging him. I wonder how we can find out where those pills came from. Brooke didn’t pull the bottle out of the trash by any chance, did she?”
“No, she said she didn’t think about it until the next day and the trash had been picked up by then. If Alec stays at his apartment, his sister can’t control his medication. I can’t help but wonder if she has sleeping pills in her possession? We know Arlene Blanchard paid a visit to Beatrice and died on her way home to Pineridge.
“Was Alec responsible for the explosion in the cabin that killed the Danforths, or someone else?”
“Molly, you’re scaring me, if Beatrice Danforth is that evil, we could be in danger too. Why don’t we talk to Dylan about your theory?”
“That’s it, Joanna, it’s only a theory. Dylan can’t do anything without evidence and we have nothing concrete to give him.”
*****
“Harold, I want you to double the dosage on my pills. Call them to the pharmacy on Main Street in Hillsboro, we haven’t used them in six months. Robert will pick them up in an hour. Be sure they are ready when he gets there.”
“Beatrice, I have told you before, I can’t prescribe any more pills for your bogus patients. I especially can’t double the dosage.”
“That’s where you are wrong Harold, you will lose your license if I contact the medical board with the information I have on you.”
"I don’t care anymore, Beatrice. I’ll gladly give up my practice to get you out of my life. I’ll be seventy at the end of the year. My retirement is long overdue.”
“Harold, you know your family will never recover from the shame if I tell what I know. Take care of that prescription.” Beatrice ended the conversation.
Dr. Harold Robinson was a general practitioner who treated many patients who could not always pay for medical care on their own. Dr. Robinson’s practice was in the low-income section of Hillsboro. He was well respected in the community and no one knew he’d practice medicine before getting his medical license. No one except Beatrice Danforth. She was a young girl when she went with her mother to volunteer at a clinic in the poorest part of town. Beatrice didn’t enjoy being around sick people and stepped into an empty room to avoid them. She heard the door open and hid in the closet. She listened as Harold Robinson spoke on the telephone. She could only hear one side of the conversation but, even at her young age, realized Dr. Robinson’s telephone call was not meant to be heard by anyone else. The doctor was talking to his boss Dr. Henry Flynn. Dr. Flynn had been hospitalized and was recovering from routine surgery. In his absence, Harold who was employed as a medical assistant, treated patients and prescribed medication. Harold knew he was facing felony charges if caught but the welfare of the patients was his main concern. Beatrice thought the information would come in handy one day and she was correct.
After Alec’s tenth birthday, he began to defy Beatrice. She studied the medical journals at the local library until she discovered the definition of hyperactivity disorder. She read about the medications for the syndrome and called Dr. Robinson.
For thirty years, Dr. Robinson prescribed medications in different names and ordered them from various pharmacies. It was true, he had once practiced without a license until he got his medical degree. After Dr. Flynn retired, Harold was the only physician willing to treat patients who could otherwise not afford medical care. The fear of losing his license and leaving the patients without a physician made him agree to Beatrice Danforth’s demands for many years.
“Bruce, I want you to fill a prescription bottle with two-hundred fifty placebos in the name of Melvin Ward.”
“Got a hypochondriac on your hands, huh Doc?”
“Something like that, Bruce, this should keep the patient happy for the next several months.”
*****
Robert picked up the prescription and returned to the mansion. He didn’t ask why the boss needed medication in someone else’s name. He knew better than to question Beatrice Danforth and her motives.
That same afternoon, Robert was instructed to deliver a different bottle of medication to Mr. Alec at the gallery. “Tell him to be sure to take his vitamins, Robert. Watch to make sure he takes it.”
Robert had no intention of standing next to Alec and demanding he take his vitamin pill. He was glad Alec finally was out on his own. Alec wasn’t a bad guy but his sister was another story.
*****
Alec put the bottle of pills Robert delivered to him in the medicine cabinet. He saw no reason to continue taking vitamins. It had been two weeks since he tossed away the last pills Beatrice insisted he take every morning a
nd he was feeling better than ever. He had more energy and wasn’t suffering from those irritating mood changes.
Laura is coming to Hillsboro. I hope she will see me. Maybe seeing her again will help cure the emptiness I’ve felt since the day she left town.
*****
Principal Nelson Fisher sat at his desk in his office. He’d decided to travel to Hillsboro and pay a call to Beatrice Danforth. He had to know whether he had violated her fifty years ago.
Nelson called Laura Abbott into his office. “Laura, I know you are planning a trip to Hillsboro and wondered if you would mind if I drove with you?”
“I wouldn’t mind at all Mr. Fisher. I wasn’t looking forward to that long trip alone. Molly Ryan suggested I stay at an Evergreen inn called Coventry Hill. I will check to see if they have another room available for you.”
“That is kind of you. I’ve read about the Evergreen development and am eager to see it for myself.”
*****
Laura packed her suitcase, she was torn between wanting to stay as far away from Alec Danforth as possible or running into his arms. She knew if she saw him again, the latter would be her reaction. She still remembered every moment they were together. She knew Alec was the only man she would ever love.
Laura waited on the boarding house porch for Mr. Fisher to arrive. He was nervous as he reached for her bag. “I hope neither of us is making a mistake by revisiting the past. I almost backed out this morning thinking it is better to leave well enough alone. Something is drawing me to the town and I need to know what it is.”
Murder in Evergreen Page 9
