Mahjonged (An Alex Harris Mystery)

by Elaine Macko

  “Maybe, but you said Penelope worked on a consulting basis. Would she have actually been around the firm very often?” Sam asked.

  “Or,” Meme said, “maybe Penelope worked for Liz, not Mia.”

  “Right! So Mia saw Penelope with Liz at some deposition or something but Penelope didn’t really take much notice of Mia,” I said, but again without much conviction.

  “I don’t know, Alex, I would think a lawyer, no matter which side they represented, would know who the various parties were,” Sam said, and I had to agree with her.

  I mulled a few things around in my head while my mother went to make a pot of coffee and boil some more water for tea. Meme had cannoli for dessert which she and Theresa had picked up this morning. Sam took the kids into Meme’s bathroom and got them ready for bed and put them into their pajamas and then popped a DVD into the player in Meme’s bedroom for them.

  Once we all settled back in the living room I tossed out my next great idea.

  “You know, maybe the lawyer thing doesn’t factor into it at all. Maybe the man in the picture was Mia’s father. Maybe he had the exact same picture in his collection of mementos and Mia saw it at some point and then she comes to my party and who else should be there but the woman in the picture, her mother, who left all those years before.”

  “You know, it could work,” Sam said. “Penelope didn’t strike me as the baby type, not with those fancy clothes. I could see her deciding to give the baby to the father and leaving.”

  “We’re forgetting about Liz in all of this,” my mother said.

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Well, I don’t think Penelope was old enough to be Liz’s mother, though you never know these days, but maybe Penelope represented Liz and things didn’t go her way,” my mother shrugged.

  “But there again, they would have acted liked they knew each other and they didn’t,” Sam said.

  “Maybe they just hated each other so much because of the trial and Liz had had enough and stabbed her,” Dorothy said.

  “No, nothing happened to Liz. She didn’t lose her job after Mia’s father died. She eventually quit nursing, but not because she had to,” I explained.

  “So if Penelope represented Liz, and then nothing happened to Liz, that would make Mia even more upset over everything and when she saw Penelope she just lost control,” Sam said. “My money’s on Mia. Don’t tell Millie I said that.”

  “No. Penelope and Liz gave no indication they knew each other,” I said shaking my head. “If Penelope represented either Liz or Mia, they kept it well hidden throughout the evening.”

  “Then maybe you’re right. The lawyer business doesn’t come into play at all and Penelope was Mia’s long lost mother,” Sam said.

  “This is just all pure conjecture,” I sighed, my mind getting confused and reverting to lawyer speak again.

  “I don’t envy you, honey,” Meme said. Looks like you’re going to be real busy tomorrow at the library.” My grandmother patted my hand and then took a big bite out of her cannoli.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  There are a lot of good reasons why I love living in Indian Cove and one of them is, unlike most towns, our public library actually opened on Sunday. The bad thing was it didn’t open until one.

  Michael showed up early to pick up his family and Henry told him he thought they should live with Grandma and Papoo, as Henry called my dad, all the time. My sister warmed to the idea what with having my mom cook all the meals and helping out with the kids. Geesh. What a mama’s girl she was.

  Who was I kidding? I quite liked being back in my parents’ home as well, having dinner on the table after a long day, having someone to talk to in the evenings in case John had to work late. And I couldn’t forget the laundry. That was the best thing, having all my stuff cleaned and ironed and placed on my bed. If John didn’t hurry up and get home, he was going to find me and all my belongings back in my old room.

  So with my partner in crime back to her own home and my parents off to brunch and a movie, I was on my own. I didn’t want to go talk to Liz or Mia until I had more information from the library. I had already shown the picture to Jean, and Millie had called saying her mother didn’t recognize the man in the picture. So now what?

  I had a couple of hours to kill so I gathered up my things and headed over to Connie’s apartment. I knew she didn’t want to see me, but I hoped she’d let me in to at least show her the picture.

  I wound my way through the quiet streets of Indian Cove toward the Sound where Connie lived in a group of older apartments thinking about all my new theories. Suddenly I had several more suspects on my list.

  But if Connie and Bert were going to remain suspects, then the picture had to factor in with them. Could Mystery Man be Bert’s father and he saw it somehow while working on the kitchen? Or when he was upstairs working on Penelope? Or maybe Connie went over to Penelope’s one day because she knew about the affair and snooped around in things while Bert toiled in the kitchen and Penelope was out. Maybe Mystery Man was Connie’s long lost father?

  I had to admit things were looking up. I felt certain Mystery Man was the father of one of my suspects and for whatever reason this led to Penelope’s murder. It had to be.

  But if Mystery Man turned out to be Mia’s father, why would she toss the picture into the grave? Why would she want a picture of her father to be included in her mother’s grave, assuming Penelope was indeed Mia’s long-lost mother? The only thing I could think of was Mia wanted to make Penelope feel guilty for eternity.

  I needed chocolate to help me sort everything out and my car stash was gone. I pulled into a little corner market which had been in the area for forever and ran inside. I hadn’t been to Minetti’s in years and the place looked exactly the same as always, with a good assortment of plastic beach toys along with a few aisles of food stuff and a meats counter in the back where you could get custom-made sandwiches to die for.

  “Alex Harris? Is that you?” Mrs. Minetti asked. I hadn’t seen her for quite a while and she looked a lot older than I remembered.

  “Actually, it’s Alex Van der Burg now,” I smiled. “I got married last summer.”

  “Oh, I thought for sure you would go back to your maiden name, dear.”

  “What?” I asked. “What do you mean? What have you heard?”

  “Sometimes things just don’t work out and it’s better to know up front. Not like in my day when you had to stay married because, well, just because.” Mrs. Minetti took my money with her wrinkled hand and placed it into the old cash register. “There’s no shame in getting a divorce. Not these days. Sometimes I wish it was an option for me. She shook her head and her glasses went flying off.

  “Mrs. Minetti, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tore off the top of the M&M’s bag with a lot more strength than I intended and a fair amount scattered over the counter. I started picking them up one by one, popping them into my mouth until I had no room. Any other place but Minetti’s I would never eat off a dirty counter, but Mrs. Minetti was spotless, and besides, I saw her wipe the counter down with a disinfected wipe as I came into the store.

  “Shirley, look who’s here. It’s Alex Harris. She’s going back to her maiden name,” Mrs. Minetti said to another woman who came and stood by me.

  I looked up from the counter and didn’t recognize her. I wanted to smile, but then chocolate would ooze out of my mouth so I just went back to my gathering.

  A second later Mr. Minetti, who I thought died years ago, came out of the back room giving me quite a fright.

  “Is that little Alex Harris?” he asked giving me a pat on the back. “I heard you got married.”

  Mrs. Minetti nudged her husband while Shirley rolled her eyes.

  “Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I am still very much married. My husband went camping with his father and brother and they just had a bit of car trouble.” I was painfully aware of my raised voice and obviously so were a few more cus
tomers because they gathered around me all with sympathetic looks. I didn’t know why I felt the need to explain, but apparently I did because I continued on my rant.

  “Really. He just went off camping. It’s his brother who’s having marital problems, not me.”

  “Vermont, wasn’t it?” Mr. Minetti asked. “And he’s been gone about a month now? It’ll get easier with time,” he said with a sigh.

  “Maine, and it’s only been a little over a week. Geesh.”

  “Maybe you could get back with the nice young man you used to date. What was his name?” Shirley asked.

  Who was this woman?

  “Oh, yes, he was a nice boy,” Mrs. Minetti added. “What was his name?” she pursed her lips in concentration.

  I needed to make a fast retreat. I turned around and looked straight into the collective face of a mob. Where had all these people come from and why were they looking at me like that? I hung my head and heaved a very huge sigh. I turned back to the counter and pulled out my wallet again handing over some more cash. “I think I’m going to need another bag.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Two minutes later I sat in my car dialing John’s cell. I wanted him to answer so I could march back into Minetti’s and have them all listen to my husband telling me how much he missed me and that he would be back shortly, but the phone once again went to his voice mail.

  “Hi, John. It’s me. Your wife. Remember? Alex. I hope you’re going to be back soon and don’t be shocked if I’ve gained a few pounds.” I disconnected and reached into the bag of M&M’s and pulled out a handful. As soon as I sated myself with about half a pound of candy, I pulled out of the driveway and got back on course. Facing Connie didn’t seem so daunting now that I had just been confronted by a mob. How did these rumors get started and who the hell were all those people? I reached over and dug out a couple more M&M’s, smiling at my foresight in buying an extra bag.

  Connie’s apartment building loomed in front of me and it felt good to be confronting a murder suspect. Murder I could deal with. Crazy strangers with minds full of God knows what, not so much.

  I had never been to Connie’s home. We didn’t share a BFF kind of friendship, really, but I heard her talk about her apartment over the years and I knew where it was located. Unfortunately, I didn’t know for sure which unit was hers. But luck was on my side. Probably some kind of cosmic apology for the scene at Minetti’s. Connie stood sweeping the patio of a unit three down from where I parked my car. She had her blond hair pulled up in a ponytail and she had on a figure-hugging pair of jogging pants.

  As I approached she looked up at me. “Alex, is everything okay? It’s not Henry is it?”

  I had to admit it melted my heart how everyone’s first concern seemed to be for my nephew. Another nice thing about living in a small town.

  “Oh, he’s fine. Back to normal, even with a cast on his leg. No, I wanted to show you something if you have a minute.” I also wanted to know if she knew about the affair, but if she didn’t, I didn’t want to be the one to let the cat out of the bag.

  “Hey, babe, I’m making a fresh pot. Want another cup?” Bert came out onto the patio surprising me, but after seeing them in town together the day after the murder, I figured they probably got back together, if they had ever been apart to begin with. At least they were both here and it would save me a trip out to Bert’s construction trailer.

  Bert saw me and his eyes locked on mine as if pleading with me not to open my mouth, which probably meant Connie didn’t know about Bert’s indiscretion, and if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have any reason to kill Penelope. Of course, there was always the possibility she knew but didn’t let on to Bert.

  Connie stopped sweeping and leaned on the broom. “Look, Alex, I’m really happy Henry is okay and all, but I’m still pretty mad at you.”

  “I just want you to take a look at something. It’ll only take a minute and I don’t even have to come in,” I said standing on the other side of the waist-high brick wall bordering the apartment’s patio. “And you, too, Bert, if you don’t mind.”

  I pulled the photo out of my bag before they had a chance to shoo me off using the broom. Connie took the picture from me and looked at it with Bert looking over her shoulder.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s the problem. I hoped maybe you recognized him.”

  They both looked at it again and shook their heads. “What does it have to do with anything?” Connie asked handing it back to me.

  “I’m not sure it does, but I found it at Penelope’s gravesite after the funeral. It looked like maybe someone tossed it in along with their flower.”

  “And you think that someone was me?” Her tone climbed.

  “No. Not at all. I just wondered if you knew the man, and if not, if you might have seen someone tossing it into the grave.”

  “No and no,” Connie said. “I wasn’t exactly watching everyone, you know. I’m not even sure why I went to the funeral except it seemed the right thing to do.”

  Bert didn’t seem to recognize Mystery Man either. I thanked them and apologized for intruding on their Sunday morning.

  So Connie and Bert didn’t know the man. Did this revelation let them off the hook? No, it did not. Number one, they could have been lying; number two, maybe the picture had absolutely nothing at all to do with anything. And number three, there was still the matter of an affair that may have gone wrong. If I had just found the picture in Penelope’s things along with her other mementos, I wouldn’t be so hung up on Mystery Man, but the fact he showed up again, in her grave no less, gave credence to my theory everything centered around him.

  I still had time to kill before the library opened and I headed over to the funeral home. Indian Cove had three funeral homes, each of them family-owned. My family and friends all seemed to use Iavani’s, probably because they tended to cater to the Catholic families in town. I heard Radford’s Funeral Home had a good reputation and now that I knew Reuben I could see why.

  Millie met him about a year ago. He started out working in New York right out of college pursuing a career in international finance, but then his grandfather died and Reuben decided to help his father with the family business. That was about six months ago and Millie claimed he was just doing it temporarily and planned to get back to his old job soon. I wondered how his father felt about Reuben’s plans.

  I pulled into the funeral home’s lot and parked my car next to Reuben’s. I hated these places and I hoped I didn’t have to go walking through all the rooms trying to find him.

  Reuben stood in the lobby talking with a man when I walked in. I stood off to the side and waited for them to conclude their business.

  “Alex. What brings you here?” Reuben asked in a soft voice. Whenever I spoke with him he always made me feel as if whatever I had to say was of the utmost importance. I guess it came with the job.

  I looked up into his dark brown eyes and smiled. I really liked Reuben and I hoped he and Millie were serious about each other.

  “Did Millie get a chance to talk to you since yesterday after the service?”

  “No, we were going out last night but I had to cancel. I had a last minute request from a client to push his viewing up a day so I had to get ready. Why? Is something wrong?” Reuben took a gentle hold of my arm and steered me toward a small office next to the lobby. We sat side by side in two very comfy chairs.

  “No, nothing’s wrong at all. I just had a question.”

  “Certainly. What is it?”

  I took the photo out and handed it to him.

  “Yesterday after the service when we walked back to our cars, I saw this photo in Penelope’s grave. It was caught on the metal thing that lowers the casket.”

  “The lowering device.”

  “Really? Gee, I thought it would have some fancy name. Okay, it was caught on the lowering device.”

  Reuben looked at the picture of the man. “Well, I guess it could have blo
wn in there from another site, but I checked the grave right before everyone arrived. I would have seen it because the casket hadn’t arrived yet.”

  “Do you recognize the man by any chance?”

  Reuben took a closer look. “No, I don’t believe so. Is he dead? Do you think he’s buried here?”

  Now this was an interesting thought. Maybe the man died and was buried right here in Indian Cove with Reuben’s family doing the honors.

  “I don’t know anything about him at all except when I helped Penelope’s stepdaughter clean out her things, I found another picture of this man tucked away in a memento box.”

  “So you think someone at the service yesterday dropped it in her grave? But why?”

  I shook my head. “Reuben, I have no idea.”

  “May I keep this? I could ask my dad if he recognizes the man. I mean, just in case he died recently and we buried him.”

  “Would you? That would be a great help.”

  A half hour later I entered the Indian Cove library. Almost two hours later I walked back to my car with the information I needed.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Mia Christenssen opened the door dressed in a sweat suit, her shoulder-length super blond hair hanging around her face. Huge blue eyes smiled at me and she invited me into her home.

  Mia had decorated her apartment in a contemporary style, with most of the furnishings provided by Ikea. She certainly had a flair with décor and the living room looked sunny and inviting.

  “You’ve caught me going through the Sunday paper. I love reading through it and looking at all the ads. Can I get you anything?”

  I eyed her cup sitting on the coffee table. “If that’s tea, I would love a cup.”