Mr. Wentworth frowned and shook his head. “My wife never said a word about any of that to me except that Mother would be better off in the memory care unit. I agreed with that and plan to move her as soon as the building is ready.”
“I understand, and that’s a good thing. The problem is that as she wandered the halls, she would see things like Ellie’s pearls and other items and think they were hers. That’s when she’d pick them up and take them back to her place. She must have put them in the pockets of her clothes because none of the rest of us ever knew she had anything with her.”
Mr. Wentworth narrowed his eyes and spoke through clenched teeth. “You mean you think my mother is responsible for all those things that were taken from the rooms? Mother would never do anything like that. She’s a responsible, honest woman.”
“I’m sure she is, but her memory has declined to the point she can’t separate the past from the reality of the present. I would never have suspected her of such a thing except for a story a friend of mine told me about a woman in the nursing home where she worked.”
As I related that story and what happened afterward, Mr. Wentworth’s eyes grew round, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. When I finished, he sat back in his chair. He digested all that I’d told him before he finally spoke.
“I can’t believe this has happened, but with your account and observations, I suppose I can see how it did. So what do we do from here? How do we make this right?”
Harry spoke up for the first time to reassure Mr. Wentworth. “Since we never followed up with the police after the incident with Maria, and the residents involved don’t want to press charges, we’ll do nothing as far as the law is concerned.”
“However, we do need someone who can look after your mother and care for her continually. In our assisted living area, we do have those who can look out for her, but I would suggest hiring someone to stay with her and be a companion. A lot of her wanderings come about because of loneliness, and a companion could help alleviate that. Our nurse on staff will take care of seeing to any medical needs.” She picked up a card on her desk. “Here is the information about a group who has personnel for that purpose. Your mother’s suite has two bedrooms, so there would be a place for a companion to stay overnight if necessary. We’ll take care of her basic needs, but someone to be with her and walk with her would go a long way to help her.”
“Sounds to me like you need more staff to handle things like that.” Mr. Wentworth tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair.
“We can always use more staff, especially in the assisted living wings and the re-hab unit, but right now, a full-time companion will do wonders for your mother.”
“This is so surreal and hard for me to believe my mother to be capable of such a thing as stealing or taking something that doesn’t belong to her, but I have confidence in you, Noreen. So, if this is what needs to be done, and no charges are being filed, I’ll take care of it as soon as I can.”
Hearing that he would be willing to help in any way he could went a long way in building his esteem in my eyes. I relaxed my shoulders which I hadn’t even realized I’d tensed.
I stood and motioned to Ben and Harry. “If you don’t need us for anything else, we’ll go and let you two work out the logistics of what to do next.”
I extended my hand to Mr. Wentworth. “I’m so glad you understand. Your mother is a lovely woman, and I plan to visit her more frequently. She loves my Schnauzer Mitzi, so I take her for a visit occasionally.”
Mr. Wentworth chuckled. “I’m not surprised at her loving the dog. She always had a soft spot for any animal and always took care of the ones I’d drag home, but because of Dad’s allergies, we never had a dog. Thank you for your concern and perhaps you can come with us for a visit with my wife and me when we pick up Mother for an outing.”
“I think I’d like that.”
With that the three of us left and headed for the lobby. Bessie came fluttering up to Harry.” I hear Olivia is the one who took all that stuff. She isn’t going to jail is she?”
Harry placed his hand on Bessie’s elbow and walked away with her as he explained what would happen.
Ben grinned and winked at me. “I’m glad he’s doing that and not me. I have a hard enough time keeping my sanity when we’re playing bridge.”
“Now that’s not so nice to say.” I grabbed his arm. “C’mon, let’s go back to my place. I have cookies and muffins waiting.”
We strolled down to my cottage, but Ben didn’t have much to say. I decided to leave him alone with his thoughts. He’d tell me soon enough what he had on his mind.
He waited until after I made coffee and served it with the cookies.
“You know, I haven’t been going to our chapel services or to church much since I came here to live. I’ve been thinking about what the pastor said that Sunday I went with you and the others. I guess I’ve been angry with God long enough, and it’s time to make amends.”
My heart did a double flip. I’d been praying for Ben and his spiritual life for a while, and his statement made every minute worth the time. “Yes, it is. God doesn’t mind our being angry with things that happen, but He does want us to see that He still loves us and wants to do what is best for us even though we don’t like it. Once we work through our anger, we can see that.”
“I can tell you speak from experience.”
“Yes, because I was very angry that Jack passed away so soon, but I worked through it with a lot of prayer and support from my friends. I had to remember Jeremiah told us that the Lord’s plans are for our good and not harm. Although my Jack was no longer with me, the Lord is and will never leave me or you or anyone of His children alone.”
Ben sat in contemplative silence a moment, as though weighing the words I had spoken. Finally, he nodded and a smile curved his lips. “I think I see that now, and I can let go of that anger. I have some years left in this old body, and I may as well live them with the Lord’s blessing and be happy.”
I jumped up and went around the table to hug him. “That’s the best news I’ve heard.”
This time he grinned. “If I can get a hug like that . . . well, you know.”
My heart thudded. I wasn’t sure, but if I didn’t want this relationship to be more than friends, I’d better put a stop to it right now. But, then, did I really want to stop it?
I stepped back and stared at him for a moment then I laughed and shook my head. “Well, so far we’ve made a pretty good sleuthing team with two crimes and one not so crime solved.”
“Yes, we have. Any chance of making our teamwork go other places? I mean, how many mysteries or crimes will there be around here to solve.”
“I suppose we could see where it goes. Who knows what will happen on down the road? Life is short, and it’ll be more fun to enjoy it together.”
“I’ll drink to that.” He picked up his coffee mug and held it toward me. I did the same toward his cup, and we clicked on it.
One thing for sure, life around here just got a lot more interesting.
Keep reading for the first chapter of Autumn Love
Autumn Love
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 niv
Chapter 1
Twenty-five years. Where had the time gone? Laura Conway stared at the letter from the River Point High School principal. It said letters had been sent to the officers of her class and asked them to plan a great reunion for their twenty-fifth year. How could it have been that long since she and ninety-five other students had walked across the stage to receive their diplomas as the first graduating class of the school?
Laura slumped down in her chair and sighed. She hadn’t reached her mid-forties yet, so why did she feel as old as dirt at this moment. Grandma had used that term when she turned ninety, but then she was old. Then she stiffened her back and sat up straight. Forty-three and a widow, she still had a lot of life to live
She’d atte
nded only one reunion since graduation, and she and Jim had attended that one only because she’d been secretary of the class. They’d been married for over a year and she had been pregnant with Ashley at the reunion, and it had been fun seeing former classmates. The officers of the class met and decided not to meet again until the twenty-fifth one, and now the time had come to plan for it.
Howie Strickland, the class president, had tutored her in trig their senior year. Laura smiled at the memory. His help assured her of graduating with a decent GPA. She kept up with him only through the newspapers when his name appeared for some venture or fund-raising event which involved him. He had married about the same time she and Jim had and lived here in Dallas, but their paths had not crossed in the past twenty years. Maybe she should have paid a little more attention to those news stories.
Laura laid the announcement aside and sauntered into the kitchen to brew a cup of tea. While the water heated, she found her old yearbook in the bedroom closet and carried it back to the table in the breakfast nook. She hadn’t looked at these pictures much in the past twenty years, and they looked even funnier now than they did the last time she checked.
The teakettle whistled its song on the stove, and Laura hastened to make her cup of tea. While the bag steeped in the hot water, she turned to the pages with pictures of her class.
Before she reached the page with Howie’s picture, her cell-phone chirped with her daughter’s ring tone. Laura tapped her finger on the screen. “Hi, honey, it’s nice to hear your voice this afternoon. What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to let you know I’ll be home tomorrow after class. I thought maybe you and I could go out to dinner, maybe to your favorite Mexican food place.”
Ashley rarely came home as her senior year at Baylor kept her busy, so something must be up.
“Of course, that sounds lovely. I’m always glad to see you. I can call Jon and see if he can come as well.”
“No, don’t call him. I want the time with just you.”
Something was definitely going on in Ashley’s life. She and her younger brother Jonathan were close and usually tried to make it home the same weekend. “Okay, if that’s what you prefer. The Aggies play out of town this week, so he may come home anyway.”
“No, he’s not. I’ve already talked with him.”
That sent up another red flag, but Laura prided herself on not prying into her children’s lives. Ashley would reveal whatever problem or situation she had in her life when she was ready. Apparently, it would be tomorrow night.
“Then I’ll be waiting for you to arrive, and I’m looking forward to it.”
“Thanks, Mom. I knew you’d understand. See you then. Bye.”
Laura stared at the now blank screen a moment before laying it down. Between the letter and the phone call, her day had just turned up-side down. Before she addressed the reunion and called Howie to discuss it, she’d find out what bothered Ashley.
She closed her eyes and remembered how she had rejected Howie when he’d asked her to the senior prom after their first date. Jim had already asked her, so she’d said no to Howie and let him know they wasn’t interested in dating him. After that, Howie barely spoke to her again except at their tutoring sessions until that fifth reunion when she and Jim attended. Howie congratulated them, made some joke, and moved on to greet the others in attendance.
The clock chiming in the living room reminded Laura of the time. A little over an hour from now, a group of women would come through her door, and she needed to get ready for them.
The committee in charge of the luncheon for her Women’s Bible Study group planned to meet here and go over decorations and food choices today.
The brownies and cinnamon-sugar cookies sat in their containers ready to be placed on serving plates, and both coffee and tea would accompany them. After arranging the sweets on two platters, she filled the coffee pot and set the timer to come on at the time they were to start arriving.
That done, she turned back to the yearbook. In the three years since Jim’s death in a car accident, Laura had kept busy with her church activities and her friends and never felt alone. Now, in this few moments before the meeting, the singleness of her life weighed on her for some reason. It would take time to digest the idea of seeing her old classmates again, especially Howie.
Of course, she wouldn’t call him that now. Howie was such a teenager name, and the man he had become would prefer Howard. Her index finger tapped the black and white photo of the boy with the horn rimmed glasses and goofy grin. She had always thought he used the clowning to hide his genius and to fit in with the crowd. It didn’t work. Howie never did become a part of the “in” crowd, always on the fringes, but never in the middle even after the joke of his nomination for class-president backfired, and the class actually elected him.
She fingered the letter once more. If he wanted to make plans for the reunion, he’d have to contact her first. That phone call she wouldn’t make.
~~
Howard Strickland dropped the principal’s letter to his desk. A River Point High School reunion didn’t appear on his list of things to be done. Being class president had been a good joke and lots of fun back then, but now, with the responsibility of the anniversary reunion, it didn’t sound like fun.
He hadn’t thought about his old high school for more years than he cared to remember. He’d put those days behind him when he graduated from high school and went off to college where he had met the girl he married after they both graduated. They had attended the five year reunion, but seeing Laura Marks now married to Jim Conway and expecting a child soured his taste for any more after that.
Those two people brought back all the painful memories of his days as the class jokester and nerd who always remained on the fringes of the popular crowd. Even his election had been a joke. He hadn’t wanted the job, but when elected, he promised to be the best president. Then at that fifth reunion, he realized their attitudes hadn’t changed that much. That’s why he’d suggested not getting together again until a really important one like the twenty-fifth arrived, and the other committee members had all agreed.
Now those years had passed which meant he’d have to locate Laura and the other two officers and put together this reunion.
Laura’s rejection of him their senior year still simmered in his memory bank despite the good years since then. He had married and buried a woman he truly loved. He hadn’t even thought of Laura for many years, but the image of her now brought back the painful days of their teen years.
He pictured Laura in the blue and gold cheerleading outfit she wore with blue bows holding back her long black locks. She had been a class beauty and the love of his life, except that she hadn’t known. Every week for two hours the spring of their senior year, he’d tutored her in math and loved her in silence until the day she told him she couldn’t date him because she was with Jim.
Could he afford to open up those old wounds again?
A knock on his door broke into his memories. His brother and partner stood in the doorway. “Come on in, Curt. What’s on your mind?”
“I have a few things to run by you before the board meeting.” Curt sat in the chair across from Howard.
Curt leaned forward. “Why the frown? Are you concerned about something for the meeting?”
Howard held up the letter. “I received this in the mail today.” He handed the paper to Curt who glanced over it.
“I’d heard something about this on social media. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the first graduating class is a biggie. You’re going to respond and help plan it aren’t you?”
“Probably, since I was the president. It’ll be up to me to help plan the activities for our class recognition.”
Curt let out a low whistle. “That’s right. I’d forgotten about that. After you graduated, I didn’t think about much of anything except my own junior and senior years. If I do remember correctly, Laura Marks was the class secretary. Didn’t you have a thing for her
back then?”
Trust his younger brother to remember something like that. “You remember correctly.”
“She was a real beauty. So, you’ll be working with her planning the reunion?”
“As class officers, we’ll work with Ray Norton and Sue Harris to plan the celebration. I think Laura lives here in Dallas now, but I haven’t kept up with her. She married Jim Conway.”
“Hmm, that should be interesting. Getting together with old classmates to plan it sounds like you’ll have a lot of meetings ahead.” He laid the letter back on the desk. “I still have fun with some of my friends from high school. We get together for dinner and such every few months or so.”
“And I’ve done just the opposite. I don’t think I’ve seen any of them since our fifth year get together. We didn’t run in the same circles in school, and I didn’t pursue them after.”
Curt shrugged. “That’s too bad, but this will give you the chance to catch up.”
“We’ll see. Now, what did you want to discuss?”
For the next half hour, he and Curt went over the two new contracts to be presented to the board for final approval. Since starting the company together after Curt’s graduation and earning his Master’s in business, the company had expanded their electronics and grown even more. These two new projects would bring in more revenue for the already successful company and make them one of the leaders in cyber technology.
After Curt left, Howard sat back and glanced around to survey his surroundings. The lavish furnishings of his expansive office and the thought of the same at home brought on a feeling of loneliness he hadn’t experienced since the days after Gina’s death. Wealth had done nothing to fill the void. Only work and their sons seemed to chase away the gloom. Now, after five years, he went about his life with no real goals or plans in sight. Did he really want to bother with a class reunion and seeing Laura again?
The Case of the Missing Pearls Page 13
