The Case of the Missing Pearls

by Martha Rogers

  When I finished, I had enough time to go to the dining hall for breakfast. I settled Mitzi in her kennel then pulled on a light jacket for the brief walk to the dining hall in the cool early spring air.

  When I sat down, Bessie looked up from pouring syrup over a pancake. “Good morning, Abby. I was just asking if you had any ideas about our robberies.”

  “I haven’t really had time to think that much about it.” Of course they’d think we were going to solve this crime after the last two, but I didn’t plan on sharing any of our information with her. If I did, everyone in the building would know.

  Bessie pursed her lips. “I’m going to keep my things locked up and hidden. I don’t want any thefts happening to me.”

  I spread my napkin on my lap. “Not a bad idea, but I don’t think you have to worry.”

  “You said the same thing when I worried about Pete’s murder. But I’m still locking my things up tight.”

  Conversation turned to other matters including the next Bridge tournament. If Harry and I could find more time to play, we could beat Ben and Bessie again, but our schedules always seemed to be in conflict.

  After breakfast, instead of going back to my cottage, I made a detour to Ellie’s room. We may as well start with the invitation list today.

  When I entered, an attendant I didn’t recognize left with Ellie’s breakfast tray. I joined Ellie at her table by the window. “I see you’re eating in this morning.”

  “Yes. I didn’t feel like going down to our dining hall.”

  “Well, I have some good news. I have the names of the employees, and we can get started on your guest list.”

  Ellie’s eyes lit up. “I’m so glad. I’ve been thinking about the party, and I want to invite the whole floor to have cake or cookies and punch. These are my friends and the people here help all of us. Can we do it?”

  “I don’t see why not.” The only problem I could foresee would be expense, but then if Ellie ran into trouble there, I’d pick up the tab. No need to disappoint Ellie.

  “The activity room is big enough for everyone, and it’ll be fun.”

  Ellie clapped her hands and grinned like a child ready to open a gift. “Oh good, now let’s see that list.”

  For the next half hour, I checked off names of employees Ellie wanted to honor. Some of them were familiar but others I didn’t know. I tried to connect a face with each one Ellie pointed out, but realized many of the employees were on duty at times I had no reason to be in the wing, especially at night. If nothing was solved by the party, at least I’d have a chance to get to know the others.

  The more Ellie talked about the celebration, the more animated she became. At least the party distracted her from worry about her missing jewelry.

  Ellie sat back with a satisfied smile. “This is going to be such fun. Thank you for taking care of all the details.” She reached into the bag hanging on the side of her wheelchair and extracted a checkbook and pen.

  She opened the pad to write. “I want to give you some money to get started with the invitations, decorations, and refreshments.”

  I stilled Ellie’s hand. “No, not now. I’ll take care of it then let you know how much we spend.”

  Ellie furrowed her brow. “You’ll be sure to keep the receipts and tell me exactly what you spend. This is my party, and I want to pay for it.”

  “Of course, I understand. I’ll get everything you’ve requested and keep a good account of it. In fact, I’ll print out the invitations and bring them back to you this evening. That way you can begin giving them out tomorrow.”

  Ellie clapped her hands again. “Oh, that will be wonderful. I can hardly wait to see their faces when I hand them their invitation.” She reached over to hug Abigail. “Thank you so much. You’re a true friend.”

  “Glad to do it, Ellie. Now let me get busy on these.” I stood as Maria entered the room.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Billings. I’m here to change the linens for Ellie. I didn’t realize she had company.”

  “That’s fine, Maria. I’m just leaving to run a few errands for her.” I hugged Ellie. “Good-bye for now. I’ll see you this evening with several invitations for you to see.”

  I walked back to my cottage. I had a tee time reserved for this afternoon, but the rest of my morning had nothing on the schedule. I remembered the one time Ben played with me. What a fiasco that was. He’d ended up on a run-away golf cart along with sustaining a shoulder injury. He wouldn’t be playing with me again anytime soon. If I could find him now, I could let him know of the progress in the party plans.

  I didn’t have to wait long because Ben and Harry walked up when I reached home.

  “Abby, I’ve been thinking about that list.” Harry stood behind me as I unlocked my door.

  He followed me inside. “They do a thorough background check on each person before they’re hired, so no one should have a criminal record, and that will make it more difficult to narrow our list.”

  “I thought of that, but I figured we could do our own checking and find out a little more about each one who has access to Ellie’s room and the others.

  Harry rubbed the back of his neck. “Get me the names, and I’ll see what I can do. I still have a few contacts and favors I might call in to see if there might be something about any of the employees, but I probably won’t find anything. They do a thorough background check before hiring.”

  “Well, it never hurts to check. Let me get a pot of coffee heated up. I think I still have some of those blueberry muffins left, too.”

  Harry and Ben sat at my table and talked while I prepared the snack. Of course, it had to turn to the tournament coming up, and Harry bragged about our unexpected victory last fall.

  “How could I forget? You and Abby beat us pretty bad in the last tournament, but this time it’s payback for Bessie and me.”

  Harry leaned back roared in laughter. “Don’t count on it friend. Abigail is much sharper than Bessie.”

  Then he spoke with a serious tone. “That’s why I think she’ll get to the bottom of these thefts before the police do. In reality, they’re not really spending a lot of time on it.”

  Ben shook his head. “That’s what I figured. Well, Abby and I don’t intend to let this get by. I only hope nothing else happens before we can get to the bottom of things.”

  I handed each one their mugs. “I’ve been thinking, and maybe there’s a way to use Ellie’s party to help us find the thief.”

  Been worked his jaw as he tends to do when confronted with a new idea. “Just what do you propose?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but I’m thinking maybe the news about the party will bring the thief out to try stealing again when everyone is occupied in the activity room.”

  Harry nodded and grinned. “We might even start a rumor about some fancy, expensive jewelry someone has or something like that.” He stood and stretched. “You work on that, but right now I’m going over the weight room for a little bit of a workout. Sure you don’t want to come with me, Ben?”

  “Are you kidding? That’ll be the day.”

  “Don’t come crying to me when you have a heart attack, buddy.” Harry strode through the door and headed for the exercise room.

  Ben shook his head. “I’ll never understand why people exercise so much. A walk through the gardens here gives me all I need.”

  “It really would be better if you lost a little weight. After the last time, I’m not going to urge you to play golf, but you do need to do something more physical than a leisurely stroll.”

  He checked his watch. “On that note, I think it’s time for me to leave as well.” He ambled to the door and stopped. “See you at lunch, and thanks for the muffins.

  Chapter 5

  After they left, I opened my computer to begin a search for backgrounds for a suitable invitation. Harry had a copy of the employee list, and I figured he’d take care of the background investigation. After all, he did find Pete’s blog last fall, and that helped us find
the killer.

  Two hours should be plenty of time for the party, or maybe an hour and a half. I settled on the latter and made all my selections before moving the cursor to click on the print command. The printed sheet rolled from the printer. It looked good, so now I needed to go shopping for paper to print them on.

  I coaxed Mitzi back into her kennel and grabbed up my car keys. Near my garage, one of the gardeners edged the flowerbeds. That reminded me of Pete and his murder last fall. The man continued on around the corner of the building. I sighed. Life goes on whether we’re here for it or not.

  I climbed into my SUV and drove out of the complex. At the mall, I found what I needed at a store selling decorative paper. Ellie would love the balloons around the edges.

  After running that errand, I returned to Spring Hills. Once there, I printed the invitations and set them aside while I took care of Mitzi before taking them to Ellie.

  When I showed them to Ellie, she loved the invitations, and we spent time getting names on them for delivery.

  When I finished the last one, I laid the pen down. “Well, Ellie, I think we have all the plans in place now. I’ll speak with Noreen again when I leave here and confirm it all.”

  Ellie’s face beamed her pleasure. “I can’t begin to tell you how much this means to me. We’re going to have a great time.” Then a look of sadness entered her eyes. “I just wish we could find my pearls. I do so want to wear them again.”

  “We’ll find them for you. It’s just taking a little longer than I thought.” I stuffed my glasses back into my jacket pocket. “Now, I’m going to run and get some of these things on the list done. I’ll be over this afternoon to read with you again.”

  “Thank you, dear. I look forward to starting a new book.”

  I patted Ellie’s shoulder and kissed her parchment thin cheek. The scent of lilac either cologne or talcum lingered from the elderly lady’s morning toilette. If I didn’t enjoy visiting with her so much, I’d suggest getting audio books for her to listen to on her own.

  A few minutes later I knocked on Noreen’s door. The woman glanced up from her desk and smiled. “Come in, Abigail. Want to go over Ellie’s plans I presume.”

  “Yes, I have what Ellie would like to serve.” The sun slanting through the windows created stripes of dark and light across the room. It reminded me of how good and evil can exist in the same place, but one always wins over the other. This time, I prayed the light would be the victor. I sat across from Noreen, thankful the director would do whatever she could to make her residents happy and keep them safe.

  “Taryn will be back from her honeymoon on Monday and will take over all these plans. She’s much better at that than I am. However, I talked it over with our kitchen staff, and they want to bake the cake and cookies. They’ll also provide the punch. All you’ll need to do is buy the decorations and anything else Ellie may want served. Taryn and our staff members will help you put up the decorations and get everything ready on that Saturday.”

  “That’s wonderful, thank you, but I’m sure some of our residents may like to help with the decorating.”

  “I’ll let Taryn know. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the help.”

  “Ellie will be so pleased. I also have an idea about luring the thief out of hiding in case he or she isn’t apprehended by then.”

  “That may not be necessary.” Noreen tapped her pen on the desk a few times. “Mr. Wentworth said the police are investigating, and they’ve already questioned some of the employees already. Two of them were here this morning with more questions for me. It’s in their hands now.”

  Now why hadn’t she told me that earlier? I hadn’t seen police around the campus. She knew I was looking for Ellie’s necklace. Police or not, I still wouldn’t stop looking for myself.

  “I guess that settles things.” I stood to leave. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. Thank you for your help with Ellie’s party.”

  After I left her office, I pondered our next steps. Harry wouldn’t break any laws getting the information from background checks. Maybe he knew what the police knew. I decided to see if he was at home.

  Harry answered his door after the first knock. “Abigail, so glad you’re here. Found some more interesting things on the computer and heard from my friend at the station.”

  This sounded even better than I hoped if he willingly gave me information without my asking. He offered me a chair near his computer. A page of printing and pictures filled the screen. Curious, I slipped on my glasses and began to read. “How did you find this?”

  His face reddened. “Er, uh, um, I still have my access code to some police files and can check a few things.”

  My mouth dropped open, but I quickly closed it. “Is that legal?”

  “Well, yes and no, but let’s not go into that. Remember the blog that Steve and Pete had? It looks like Steve kept it going.” He clicked on the minimize button and the writing disappeared before another page popped up. “I really can’t let you read all that other.”

  I recognized the new screen page. It was the same blog we’d looked at last fall.

  A knock sounded followed by Ben’s voice as he opened the door and walked in. “Hey, you two, are you conspiring without me?”

  “No, I was just showing Abigail a blog. Our Steve is still gambling, and he’s not doing so well without Pete.” He handed Ben a piece of paper with handwritten notes on it.

  Ben glanced down at it and lifted an eyebrow. “Has Abby seen this?”

  Harry’s face reddened. “Uh, no, I wanted to go over it with you first.”

  “Well, since this is Abby’s friend and more her case than mine, she needs to read it.”

  I grabbed it from him and began reading. I couldn’t believe the information there about Maria and flung the offensive article to the desk. “This is absurd. This can’t be true. I thought you had a whole lot of new information on Steve, not Maria.”

  Harry shrugged. “I don’t know the details and couldn’t tell you if I did until an arrest is made. But it seems the police have some evidence that gives Maria motive and opportunity.”

  “Noreen told me Mr. Wentworth wanted the thefts investigated, but how could they find out so much so fast?”

  “They have their ways of checking people more thoroughly than I do.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, I’m not going to believe it. If she’s arrested, you have to defend her, Ben. You can make this whole thing go away.”

  Ben shook his head. “I don’t like the looks of this. Maria is the last person I’d expect of this. Abby and I got to know her rather well during Pete’s investigation.”

  “I have some other ideas, but I’m not sure how much attention the police will pay to it. Besides, they should have this information as well.” He turned the computer screen toward Ben. “Here, read Steve’s latest blog.”

  Ben sat down and began scrolling down Steve’s writing.

  I read along with him. This young man did like to gamble and complained about games being fixed and losing money. Said he’d come up with a surefire way to make some extra cash. Then he wrote about his job and how much he loved the old people he helped every day. He even mentioned Ellie and Olivia Wentworth and a few of the others.

  All this piqued my interest. Had Steve come up with to a way to steal from the elderly folks he talked about helping? Why wasn’t he more of a suspect than Maria?

  I shook my head and straightened up. “This certainly gives Steve a motive.”

  “Yeah, one thing I can tell from this is that this young man has some problems.” Harry tapped more on the computer keys. “I’m going to talk to my friend and make sure they know about this. We also need to check Steve’s schedule. If he wasn’t on duty at those times, he’s probably not the one. So happens, Maria was on evening duty all three times the disappearances occurred. She sometimes stays until after the dinner hour.”

  “That does put her in a bad light, but I still can’t see her as the thief. Of
course, she does have access to so many hiding places, but for that matter, Steve does, too.”

  “Look, Abby, if you truly believe Maria to be innocent, let’s figure out how to clear her name. If she is arrested, I will take on her case, but we’ll have to have lots of evidence to prove her innocence.”

  Harry pulled a sheet of paper from his printer. “I think I’ll make sure the police have a copy of this information about Steve. But a few others had the same opportunities. We’ve got to be sure to get the right one. Right now, I’d put my money on Steve or Maria.”

  Anger built a nest in my chest, so I breathed deeply before I said something I might regret later. My mother’s genteel ways of the South floated through my mind. A true lady never lost her temper or raised her voice in public. She showed anger only if the situation absolutely called for it, and even then, it was a quiet anger.

  Hah! I couldn’t be quiet about this. Sorry, Mother, but this is one girl who doesn’t like to see innocent people hurt.

  “I don’t care what the police think. Maria is innocent.” But how could I know for sure? “We’re going to solve this mystery of the disappearing pearls, and Maria won’t be the thief.”

  I stood and marched for the door. Ben and Harry agreed with me for a change and attempted to soothe my feelings. Harry shut down the computer and followed me up to dinner with Ben.

  As soon as we entered the lobby, we found trouble. Two policemen strode across the lobby with Maria between them. The young’s woman’s wrists wore handcuffs, and tears coursed down her face. When she looked up and saw me, her face paled.

  I rushed to her side. “Don’t worry, Maria. Ben and I will help you.” I stood back and became helpless as the two men led Maria outside. Her dark brown eyes held a fear I wouldn’t soon forget.

  The residents stood in clusters whispering among themselves. Ben rested his hand on my arm. “I’m going down to the police station now. They’ll have to question her in my presence.”