Angel Sleuth

by Lesley A. Diehl

  “I think Toliver is covering for someone, and he’s doing his best to make it sound as if you’re a bit of a looney. Sounds like he has Hendricks convinced,” Mac said.

  “Hendricks already thought I was demented. He figures I stole the stuff from Leda’s office, then planted it in my house. Who would do that except for a crazy woman?”

  “Just to make certain that Bethany is okay, I’m going to have a talk with her parents. Her father was on the force in Philadelphia for ten years, and I met him on several occasions when I was a cop in the city, so we go way back. Let me handle this.”

  She handed him the phone, and he took it into the living room for privacy. She was delighted he was willing to intercede with Bethany’s parents. He, at least, believed her.

  “With all the rumors flying around about Leda, the theft at the office and her new will, my reputation is on shaky ground in this town. And just the other day, I was thinking what a wonderful place this would be for my retirement years. Now I wonder.”

  “The down side of living in a small town.” Caroline reached across the kitchen table and patted Kaitlin’s hand. “Nothing much happening. People get bored and grab at the first excitement they can find. It’s not you. It’s the situation.”

  Kaitlin wanted to believe her, but she wondered how long it would be before she felt comfortable walking into the café or the library or the supermarket without thinking people were staring at her or talking behind her back. Maybe it was time for her to return to Albany where she could be more anonymous. Then she remembered who lived in Albany. Zack and his woman.

  Mac came back into the kitchen to report on Bethany.

  “She’s off to see her grandmother, and only the close family knows where she’s going. I told Bethany’s dad what we knew, and he had a few choice words to say about the cops in this burg. The two of us are going to use our contacts with the state police to see where they’ve gotten on ascertaining the cause of death for Leda. I’ll bet they’ve stepped in because her death, Will’s beating and some other happenings in this village are related.”

  Happenings? That got Kaitlin’s attention.

  “What other happenings? I haven’t heard of any other happenings.”

  “Be patient. I’m working on it. I turned over Tom’s note and that cross to the State Bureau for Criminal Investigations where my old trooper buddy, John Morris, works.”

  Mac explained to Caroline about the cross and their suspicions Leda pulled it off the neck of whoever pushed her down the stairs. If Caroline were shocked at this bit of news, she did her best to hide it. By now, she appeared as convinced as they were that someone was responsible for her mother’s fall.

  Mac continued. “Morris has been hinting that something is up in this region. Could be it’s drugs. You know, the meth lab thing.”

  “You think Leda knew something about a meth lab?” A meth lab in this small burg. Kaitlin couldn’t believe it, although she knew it was possible. These mountains were a great place to hide things, especially illegal things.

  “Yeah, maybe someone was stealing Sudafed from the residents at ARC and selling it back to them as meth.” Mac smiled that sly little smile of his.

  Kaitlin had discovered in their short relationship that when Mac decided not to say anything, nothing she could say would talk him into sharing either information or speculation. She moved on.

  “So, did Will talk to you?”

  “He was very chatty,” Caroline said, “but much of it didn’t make sense. He seemed resigned to losing his aunt’s money and didn’t seem to blame me for the turn of fate that changed his fortunes. He told us he paid off all his gambling debts by taking out a second mortgage on his house, selling his cars and cleaning out his stock portfolio. His debts must have been enormous.”

  Kaitlin was puzzled. “That means the people to whom he owed money were paid in full. They would have no reason to beat him up.”

  Mac nodded his head in agreement.

  “Will said they demanded he tell them what Leda knew, and he told them he didn’t know what they were talking about. Finally, they must have believed him, because they tossed him out of the car onto the street in front of the B and B where he had a room,” Mac said.

  “Can he identify the men?” Kaitlin asked.

  “He said he never saw them before,” said Caroline.

  “I think he’ll recover from the beating. No permanent damage seems to have been done according to his doctors, but what he’ll have trouble recovering from is the loss of his practice in the city,” Mac said.

  “Loss of his practice?” asked Kaitlin.

  “Yeah. Just as we were leaving, Will’s partner stopped by to visit him. We thought it was nice of him to make the drive all the way up here to see Will, but he wasn’t delivering good news. He told Will that, with Will’s gambling problem, he wanted to dissolve their partnership and threatened to report him to the New York State Medical Board for ethical misconduct,” Caroline said.

  “Poor Will. First he loses his inheritance, then he loses his professional life,” Kaitlin said.

  Caroline squirmed in her chair.

  “Come on, Caroline. Don’t start that guilty business again. We’ve got work to do. Unless you’ve changed your mind about finding your father,” Kaitlin said.

  She perked up. “Where do we start?”

  “We’re going to visit Dr. Baldo. I’m just playing a hunch, but it may pay off. C’mon, Mac. You drive.”

  Once they all invaded his living room, Dr. Baldo took one look at the green of Caroline Adams’ eyes and strode across the room to greet her.

  “You must be Leda’s daughter. Caroline, isn’t it?” He took one of her hands in his own. “Please sit down, all of you.” Baldo was making nice, but his unusual display of manners wasn’t going to deter Kaitlin from her mission.

  “You were the doctor who delivered Caroline, weren’t you? You knew Leda was pregnant. She fled here to have the baby in secrecy, and you helped her.”

  Caroline’s mouth opened to form a round “O” of surprise, and Mac stopped twirling his unlit cigarette between his fingers. As for Baldo, she watched as he slid into the chair behind him and covered his eyes with one bony hand. It was several moments before he spoke.

  “Yes, yes, it’s true. I helped Leda, convinced her it would be better to put you up for adoption, and located a private agency to arrange for adoptive parents. I kept her secret all these years. Robert Pippel never knew she had a child before they married.

  “I always loved Leda. I even hoped she would consider marrying me after Robert’s death many years later, but she never quite got over losing him. We became good friends. I did hope, one day, if I were patient, she would see me in a different light. Now it’s too late.”

  Kaitlin wanted to feel sorry for Baldo, but something about him put her off. Sneaky, came a whisper from within her head. The voice wasn’t hers. It sounded more like Mary Jane’s. Looking over her shoulder perhaps?

  “Caroline needs to find her father. What do you know about the man who got Leda pregnant? Did she ever talk about him?” she asked.

  “I don’t know much. I suspect the man might have been a prominent member of the community from which Leda came following her graduation from high school. You might begin there, although I doubt you’ll find anything.”

  “What town?”

  “Just south of here. Lake Woods.”

  Caroline thanked Baldo for his help, and she and Mac stood up to leave. Kaitlin hung back as Mac and Caroline walked out.

  “I want to talk with you. Soon. It’s about Lily’s medication.”

  “I took care of that, thanks to your note and her talk with me today.”

  But she wasn’t letting Baldo off the hook yet.

  “There’s a bigger issue. Something is not right up there, and I think you have suspicions about it also. The police have the letters written to Leda about thefts at ARC, and I’ll bet they’re very interested in them about now considering recen
t events.” She was faking, but Baldo didn’t need to know that.

  “Such as?”

  “Such as my getting bopped on the head, Will’s beating and a threat to Caroline. Too many coincidences associated with Leda’s death. Not only were the local cops interested in your autopsy report, now I understand the state has stepped in to scrutinize it.” Another exaggeration, but a little lying was in order to insure the safety of the people at ARC. And she wasn’t talking about being their ombudsman. She was talking about being their friend.

  Baldo straightened up at her words. He threw back his shoulders and drew his hands into fists as if he were prepared to fight anyone who questioned his medical expertise.

  “How dare they?” he asked.

  “Well, perhaps you weren’t paying attention because of personal reasons.”

  She left Baldo on his front steps, his face the color of the white roses that grew along the fence surrounding his property.

  Back in the car, Carolyn asked, “How did you know Dr. Baldo delivered me?”

  “I didn’t. It was just a guess. Leda was so secretive about you, I thought she might want to avoid a hospital delivery. And she and Baldo go way back. Simple.”

  She knew Caroline was eager to get started right now, but it was Saturday night, and she wanted to use the school as a launching point for their search. Tomorrow would have to do.

  “Let’s take Caroline to Kenny’s House of Billiards,” Kaitlin said.

  If pool loosened her up, it could do the same for Caroline, allow her to forget her worries for a few hours and concentrate on chasing colorful balls around a field of green felt.

  * * *

  Mary Jane kissed Jeremy goodnight and tucked the covers around him.

  “Donna is right next door if you need her,” she said.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Oh, just downstairs for a drink.”

  Jeremy sat up in bed. You are not. You’re a terrible liar, Mom.”

  “I’m taking a drive. I won’t be gone long.”

  “Where?”

  She sighed. She was a terrible liar, especially when it came to her son.

  “It’s kind of a mission. For Kaitlin. I need to talk to someone who may have some information about what happened to that advice columnist lady.”

  “Who?” His child’s voice grew higher in pitch and more insistent.

  “Just an old boyfriend of hers. He might know something.”

  “A boyfriend?” he asked. She’d said the right thing. He sounded reassured. And tired. She kissed his forehead and left the door open to the next room in the suite.

  “Jeremy will be fine. Try not to run into anything,” said her friend. She handed Mary Jane the keys to her car.

  Mac would kill her if he knew what she had in mind, but Mac didn’t even know which hotel the conference was in, so she was safe for the night. He’d never find out about her escapade.

  An idea had been plaguing her for most of the day, and it wouldn’t let go. It wasn’t a job Kaitlin could do. It was up to Mary Jane.

  She pulled into the gravel driveway. She shouldn’t be here, that she knew, but there were no lights on in the house and no car in the driveway. Saturday night. Maybe Hiram had a hot date. She doubted it.

  She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, perhaps a closer inspection of the Corvette, which she didn’t believe belonged to him. The detached garage was locked. She took her flashlight and shined it through the windows. No vehicle there either.

  She used the flashlight to peer in the window of the welding shop behind the garage but saw few signs of productive work. Most of the metal parts were old and rusted, and the acetylene tanks were shoved to the back of the work space. She couldn’t see any evidence of repaired parts awaiting an owner to pick them up. If Hiram could afford a Corvette, he must have another money source. Cash flow in his welding business appeared non-existent. And that’s one thing she could look for—some indication of how Hiram got his money or how he was paying for his fancy car—assuming it belonged to him. He was just the type to be a petty thief, and his character suggested he might like to prey on elderly, infirm, confused folks. The problem was she had no idea what he could be stealing from residents at ARC, if he were guilty of lifting anything from them.

  This was just a silly, wild goose chase. She chided herself for thinking she could play sleuth, but someone needed to take charge here. Talking to the people at ARC wasn’t producing any results. And she felt Kaitlin was getting sidetracked by Caroline’s presence in town.

  If Hiram hit Kaitlin over the head that night at ARC and tried to run her down in the city, then he must be convinced Kaitlin knew something. He was trying to scare her off. Or even kill her. Mary Jane thought about that possibility. If Kaitlin was in danger, then so was she. So were they all. Hiram might use anyone near her to get to Kaitlin. He wouldn’t care if it was a young boy or an elderly woman. Better hustle. Get the goods on hunky—or was it chunky—Hiram and get out of here.

  The shop was locked, but the doorknob to the back door of the house turned easily when she tried it. She wanted to locate Hiram’s business papers or his checkbook and give a good look around the place to see if anything odd turned up. She flipped on the light switch in the kitchen.

  The house was small, a one story ranch-style design with a kitchen-dining room combination, tiny living room and one bedroom. In the kitchen, dirty dishes filled the sink. Take-out boxes, plates with drying food on them, and beer bottles, empty except for cigarette butts in the bottom of most of them covered the table. A large fly with iridescent green wings landed on a dried out donut and began his late night snack.

  She used her flashlight to guide her down a hallway past a small bathroom and entered the bedroom. The bed was, of course, unmade. The soiled sheets hung off the mattress onto the floor. She moved the light around the room.

  Aha! What’s this? A desk piled high with papers on top of which sat a checkbook. She thumbed through it. Interesting. No checks written for car payments or to any credit card company. Hiram apparently preferred to do his business in cash. A good thing. The current balance in his checking account was less than ten dollars.

  A quick run through the papers on the desk revealed a number of unpaid bills—electric, phone, cable. Most were overdue by at least a month. A letter from the gas company warned that his gas would be cut off in two days.

  She moved toward the closet and shined the light into it. Very interesting. An Armani shirt, a set of Ping golf clubs, Ralph Lauren knit shirts, Tommy Bahama slacks, and tropical print shirts. Hmm. Pretty spiffy stuff for a poor welder with no visible assets.

  The moon moved from behind the clouds and illuminated the tiny bedroom. She flipped off her light and turned from the closet to leave the bedroom. Blocking her exit was a man, tall and skinny with a smile on his acne-pocked face. And a gun in his hand.

  Chapter 18

  He flipped on the bedroom light.

  “Uh, huh,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

  “What are you doing here? I was supposed to meet Hiram, not some broad.”

  “I’m his landlady. I’m here for the rent. He’s behind, you know.” She began to slip past him in the doorway.

  “Wait a minute. I thought he owned this house.”

  “Yeah, and I’ll bet you thought he owned that Corvette, too. Aren’t you a little old to believe in fairy tales? Or to play with guns?”

  “Oh, this. I saw the light from the road and came to find out what’s up. Might have been some cops. Hiram wouldn’t like that. Say, what are you doing in his bedroom?”

  “Well, we’re a little more than just landlady and tenant, if you know what I mean.” She winked at him, and he put the gun into the waistband of his jeans.

  “Wasn’t loaded anyhow,” he said.

  Just like his brain, she thought, grateful for his gullibility. “Know where he keeps his money? I’d sure like to get my back rent.”

  He shook his
head no, his long, unwashed hair swinging in front of bloodshot eyes.

  “Guess I’ll just come back another time, then.” She walked around him and down the hallway toward the back door.

  “You could wait for him. I’ve got money with me, and once I pay him, he’ll have cash for his rent.”

  “Pay him. For what?”

  “For some welding I did for him on a car part.” Hiram spoke from behind her, blocking her exit through the door. Her heart stood still, and she began to sweat profusely.

  “Naw, that’s not what I came for…”

  “Shut up, Jake, and get out of here.” Jake hesitated. “Now!”

  “Ah, but I was hoping we could…”

  “He could stay a while,” said Mary Jane.

  “No he couldn’t. Beat it, Jake. The lady and I have important business to talk about. You come back later. Shove off.”

  Hiram appeared not to be in any mood for an argument. Jake muttered something under his breath and slammed the door after him. Mary Jane waited, trying to think of a plan for escape.

  “I know you like my car, so let’s take a little ride, and we can finish what we started the other night.”

  He grabbed her arm and shoved her through the door toward the Corvette now parked beside the house. She reconsidered her earlier assessment that Kaitlin’s all talk and no action approach was too cerebral. There was something to be said for just sitting around in the safety of one’s own living room and thinking a lot. Or picking the brains of the residents at ARC.

  “I don’t think she wants to take a ride with you, Hiram.”

  Brilliant moonlight illuminated the figure of Mac leaning against the door of his Buick, a cigarette dangling from his lips, looking for all the world as if he had been there for hours waiting for just such a moment to present itself. Maybe he had.

  “What’re you doing here?” The relief she felt registered in her voice. Right now he looked like more than a cop. To her he was Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, and Mighty Mouse all in one.

  Mac ignored her question and focused on Hiram, who dropped his hand from her arm and shrugged his shoulders.