Heaven Preserve Us: A Home Crafting Mystery (A Home Crafting Mystery)

by Cricket McRae

  "Okay." I walked over to the window and opened the curtains so he could see the snow still coming down outside. When I turned back, he had begun to snore lightly.

  Downstairs, I let Brodie out to do his business. Then I found some leftover split pea soup with ham in the freezer and heated it up. A thick slice of homemade bread with butter and a glass of cold milk to wash it all down. I felt like a little kid eating that meal, and figured Barr would welcome some of the same when he woke up. I put the rest of the soup in a bowl, ready to heat, and went into the living room.

   

  I couldn't sit down, restless energy prompting me to pace while I waited for Meghan and Erin to get home. I was worried, and not only because she was out there with some guy that didn't exist on paper. The snow would be much worse in the mountains, and I didn't even know where to send help if they needed it. Getting back would be difficult at best. They had shelter, and would probably be okay if they had to stay out there all night, but the very thought made me more anxious than ever.

  I'd built a fire, swept and mopped the floor in the kitchen and entryway, dusted the living room and scrubbed the toilets in both the upstairs and the downstairs bathrooms when the phone finally rang. I was tidying the books on the shelves in the living room by then, and ran to pick it up before it woke Barr.

  The caller ID said it was a wireless call, but no name or number. Figured. I may have had a bit of an attitude in my voice when I answered.

  Not Allen. Meghan. Thank God.

  "Be there soon," she said. "We only now got to where there's some cell phone reception, and I knew you'd be worried."

  "Talk about understatements. Where are you?"

  "Coming south on Highway 9. The traffic's bad, but we got off the mountain before it really started to storm."

  "Everything okay?"

   

  She sighed. "Yes. It's fine. And we had a wonderful time, thanks for asking. Is Barr there?"

  "He's upstairs, asleep. Getting packed up and over here took it out of him."

  "Tell him he can stay as long as he needs to. See you soon"

  We rang off, and I realized I hadn't asked for the number of the cell phone she'd obviously been calling from.

  Still, I felt a lot better.

   

  TWENTY-ONE

  MEGHAN DIDN'T GET HOME for almost another two hours. I knew the traffic would hold them up-the roads turned into parking lots when it snowed, and everyone desperately tried to get home, but I was getting worried all over again by the time they finally came in a bit after nine.

  Barr sat at the kitchen table, insisting he didn't want to be treated like an invalid. "I only need a little more rest than usual."

  "Okay," I said, and pointed to the bowl of hearty soup. I reached for a chunk of bread and the butter.

  "A guy could get used to this," he said, spooning up a bite.

  The front door banged open, and I left him to his dinner. The sharp scent of winter cold greeted me in the foyer. Erin came in first, blinking sleep out of her eyes and rubbing at the imprint of rough upholstery on her left cheek. Meghan came in next, ruddycheeked and glowing even after hours spent in traffic. Kelly entered behind them, carrying our big picnic basket and an empty wine bottle. Brodie toddled over and gave him a big, brown-eyed doggie grin.

   

  Traitor.

  "You made it," I said, taking the basket and bottle from Kelly.

  He shucked out of his coat and laid it on the bench by the door. "What an experience! I've never seen people react to snow like that in my life. I have to say, I'm in fairly desperate need of your facilities."

  Huh. If he were from Seattle he would have known what to expect from a Northwest snowstorm. I waved him toward the downstairs bathroom.

  Erin trudged to the stairs. "Remember that you're sleeping in my room," Meghan said. Her daughter mumbled something in response, still half asleep.

  Once they were both out of earshot, I grabbed Meghan's arm and said, "I have to talk to you."

  She raised her eyebrows and waited.

  "There is no Kelly O'Connell."

  Now she just looked puzzled. "Of course there is. He's using our bathroom right now."

  "He doesn't exist. No driver's license, no address, no car registration, no phone number."

  "Well what do you expect? He just moved here. Jeez, will you leave the poor guy alone?"

  "But he moved from Seattle, right? There's no record of him anywhere in Washington State. He isn't who he says he is."

  She blinked, then rallied. "Exactly how is it that you know this?"

  "I asked Barr to find out some more about him. He called one of his friends at work."

   

  "You ... you asked ... how dare you?"

  "Hey. He was acting suspicious the other night, at HH."

  "So were you!"

  "And we don't know anything about him. So go ahead and get mad at me. And at Barr, if you want. I don't care. But pay attention. Your boyfriend isn't who he says he is. Don't you want to know why that is? Doesn't it make you wonder what else he might be lying about?"

  Her eyes shifted over my shoulder and widened. My stomach dropped. Slowly, I turned to find the individual in question standing in the doorway behind me. Barr appeared behind him, looming a good five inches over his head.

  Kelly stiffened, but didn't turn around. "Maybe we should find a place to sit down," he said.

  "Living room." Meghan's words were clipped.

  The three of us trooped in behind her. Kelly joined Meghan on the sofa, but she scooted away to put a little distance between them. Barr sank into my favorite big cushy chair, and I stood by the fireplace. Kelly looked around at each of us, finishing with Meghan. She looked resigned and sad. I felt awful for her. It wasn't her fault she had such terrible luck with men.

  "I'm not from Seattle," he said.

  "No kidding," I said.

  Meghan glared at me. "Let him explain."

  I shrugged. Barr watched the drama without comment.

  Kelly took a deep breath. "I'm actually from New Jersey. I'm an investigator, brought in by the Heaven Foundation to find out what Philip Heaven was doing with the money he was siphoning from Heaven House."

   

  Oh. Wow.

  Barr asked, "Is your name really Kelly O'Connell?"

  "It is. And before you ask, no, I'm not licensed to officially investigate anything here. You could probably do something with that if you wanted. I know that. But I think the board would be happy to agree that I'm simply doing them a favor."

  So they were paying him under the table and hoping to keep it quiet.

  I thought about the bank statements and the utility shut-off notices I'd found in Philip's apartment. "I don't understand why Philip would need to steal from Heaven House. It was supposed to be his baby. And he had a trust fund, didn't he? Not exactly hurting for money."

  "It wasn't enough. The trust fund gave him an allowance, but not a huge one. His grandfather didn't want him to be dependent on it, wanted to give him an appreciation of money, not take it for granted. You know, I spent some time with him, and I believe he genuinely wanted Heaven House to be a success at first. He didn't have a clue how to make that happen, though. Once he saw it failing, I think he gave up and began treating the money the foundation provided as his own." "

  I take it this had been going on for a while," Barr said.

  Meghan sat slumped in the corner of the sofa, and Kelly kept shuttling his gaze toward her. But he answered. "The foundation thought everything was fine. Then they started getting complaints. Finally Heaven's cousin, Jude Carmichael, contacted the board two months ago, and they learned many of the programs Philip had delineated in his reports to them were either failing or never got off the ground in the first place."

   

  "Did Jude know you were investigating Philip?" I asked.

  He shook his head. "No one did. I was just another volunteer. One that happened
to get pretty close to the boss."

  "Did you find the money?" Barr asked.

  Kelly sighed. "No. It seems he spent most of it."

  "Did you kill him?" I asked.

  "What?"

  "Sophie Mae!" Meghan, however upset she was with her new beau, was aghast that I'd ask such a thing. Even Barr looked surprised, and a little amused.

  I held up my palms. "Well, you came out here as a kind of fixer, right? To save face for the foundation, take care of a family problem for them, and find the money Philip had squirreled away if any was left."

  Kelly let out a big, easy laugh. "I think you've seen a few too many episodes of The Sopranos. Just because I'm from New Jersey doesn't mean I'm a hit man." He snorted out another laugh. "Murder by botulism poisoning. I love it."

  His amusement faded when he saw none of us were smiling. "Really?" Narrowing his eyes at Barr, he asked, "The botulism wasn't an accident?"

  "There's no official investigation at this point," Barr said. "But there are some suspicious circumstances that warrant looking into. Philip received a threat. More than one, I understand, but one in particular that worried him enough to consult me on a semi-official basis. He mentioned it to some other people, as well, but didn't say who it was from."

  Kelly looked thoughtful. "Huh"

   

  "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" I asked.

  "I might. I just might."

  We all waited. After a several seconds of silence he seemed to make a decision. "Philip was having an affair."

  I grimaced. "With Maryjake Dreggle?"

  Meghan's jaw dropped.

  He nodded. "So that's not news to you."

  She said, "Well, it's sure news to me. Barr?"

  He shot me a questioning look. "I had no idea."

  I paced back and forth in front of the fire. "I saw her react to Philip's illness the day he died. It wasn't exactly the reaction of an employee. But I couldn't be sure."

  "Well, I'm sure," Kelly said. "I saw them together. And then after he died I went up to his office and found a letter in Philip's desk from James Dreggle. He knew about the affair, and he warned Philip off in no uncertain terms."

  "Were you there on Thursday night?"

  He blinked. Realization dawned on his face. "That was you in the window? What were you doing there in the middle of the night?"

  I gave a little shrug. Meghan looked vaguely satisfied.

  "Do you have the letter?" Barr asked. I could see his energy was fading.

  "I'll bring it to you tomorrow." Kelly turned to Meghan. "When I came out to see what was going on with Heaven House, I met you and found myself in the difficult position of having to lie to you about why I was here and where I came from. But I never lied to you about anything else, I promise you that. Especially about how I feel. I can't expect you to trust me when I say that, but I really like you. And Erin is a gem. I can't even tell you how much I enjoyed today, even with the snow and the crazy traffic." He glanced at me. "And being outed by your housemate."

   

  She still looked skeptical, for which I was glad, but I couldn't help hoping Barr would ask another favor from his co-workers, and Kelly O'Connell would come out clean.

  "But you live in New Jersey," she said.

  "For now. I've always moved around a lot. Who knows where I'll end up?" The corners of his mouth turned up.

  Her return smile was tentative, but it was there.

  Kelly left after a few more words alone with Meghan. Words which, by the way, she chose not to share with Barr and me. By then we were all tired for various reasons and elected to delay further discussion of Kelly's revelations until morning. I helped Barr get settled in Erin's room again, and he fell asleep immediately. Meghan joined Erin in her bed, and I went to mine.

  Alone. Just as well, I thought. I was so exhausted I'd probably snore. Or worse, drool. Bleah.

  Some time later I heard the phone ring, but couldn't claw my way to consciousness in time to answer it. The sound stopped, and I allowed myself to drift again.

  "Sophie Mae." The whisper beside my bed startled me, and I sat straight up.

  "Meghan?"

  "Thaddeus Black is on the phone for you. It's about Ruth."

   

  What on earth? Heart thudding, I took the phone Meghan proffered. "Hello? Thaddeus?" I shivered in the chill night air and reached for my big fluffy robe laid across the end of the bed. The snow outside reflected any meager light it could find a million times, making the other side of the curtains glow.

  "I'm so sorry to call you this late."

  "That's okay. Is something wrong?"

  "Ruth is in the hospital. She wanted me to phone and ask you to come."

  "Oh, no. Is she okay? What happened?"

  "She was attacked. He beat her quite badly."

  "Who did?" I breathed.

  "Well, the lady from the police keeps talking about a creeper. Do you think she means a peeping Tom?"

  "The Cadyville Creep?" I swung my legs over the side of the bed and slipped my feet into the yellow ducky slippers waiting on the floor.

  "That sounds right. Do you know what she's talking about?"

  "I'm afraid I might. Was she ... ?"

  "Was she what?" Thaddeus asked.

  "Raped?" The word lashed against my sensibilities as I tried to connect such a horrible act with spunky Ruth.

  The question flustered her uncle. "Oh, no, nothing like that," he said. There was a pause, and then he asked, "Can you come?"

  I picked at the leg of my blue-striped flannel jammies and mentally sighed. "Sure. I'll be there as soon as I can."

  "Thank you. I wouldn't ask you myself, but she so wants to talk to you"

  "As soon as I can," I repeated, and we rang off.

   

  Out of the flannel jammies and into a pair of jeans and a longsleeved T-shirt with a thick wool sweater over the top. As I dressed by the light of my bedside lamp, I got angrier by the second.

  Meghan came in, all bleary-eyed and worried looking. "What's going on?"

  I told her about the Cadyville Creep attacking Ruth. "And she wants me to come to the hospital."

  After she railed for a few minutes against anyone who would stoop to attacking a seventy-year-old woman, Meghan fell silent.

  I was lacing up my boots when she asked.

  ?,,

  "Why, what?"

  "Why you?"

  That gave me pause. Why me indeed? Ruth and I were friendly acquaintances, but not really anything more than that. At least, we hadn't been until she started counting on me to prove her beets weren't the ones that killed Philip.

  "Sophie Mae?"

  "I really don't know. But I'll let you know once I do."

  "Be careful, and give Ruth my love," Meghan said. "Tell her we'll come help with anything she needs, okay?"

  "Of course." If Ruth were going to choose someone at random to call, I'd have thought it would be Meghan. She was a much nicer person than I was.

  I slipped into Erin's room on my way downstairs to check in on Barr. His breathing was heavy but not too labored. I thought about waking him, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. At the top of the stairs I stooped to pat Brodie on the head and told him to take care of everyone. He rolled over on his back and looked at me upside down. Maybe he didn't look like much of a watchdog, but I knew he'd raise holy hell if anything happened.

   

  I bundled up, and then spent a downright silly amount of time and energy on furtive glances around the eerily silent yard and street before hurrying out, jumping in my truck and quickly locking the doors.

  It was almost midnight. Again, I thought. I was getting a little tired of being tired. Everyone else seemed to have found their way home except for a few snowplows on the highway. The orange streetlights above turned the stark white blanket a bright amber. The air was electric with cold. With no one in my way, I made good time to the hospital.

>   By now I'd become an expert at locating the entrance to the parking garage.

   

  TWENTY-TWO

  THADDEUS BLACK LEANED ON his cane outside the room where the nice lady at the information desk downstairs had told me I could find Ruth. Relief replaced the worry and weariness on his lined face. He met me halfway down the hall and grabbed my arm.

  "I'm glad you're here. She's so upset."

  "How is she physically? Did he hurt her badly?"

  Sadness crossed his face. "Bad enough, poor girl. Black and blue, and the bastard knocked her down, cracked a rib."

  I winced. As we neared the room, moving slowly to accommodate Thaddeus' shambling arthritic gait, he hesitated. "The lady detective is still in there with her. Asking her questions about that creep fellow."

  Hmm. "I think I'll join them."

  "I don't know," he said. "She seems kind of... tightly wound, if you know what I mean."

   

  "Yeah. I know what you mean. But from everything I've heard she's very good at her job."

  He scowled. "She'd better be."

  I gently pulled away from his grip and went into Ruth's room. He didn't follow me in, electing to stay in the hallway. I wondered what Detective Lane had said to intimidate him so.

  Ruth appeared frightened half out of her wits. Lane loomed over the older woman with a massive notebook in her hand and a severe expression on her face. She greeted my entrance with a moue of exasperation.

  "What are you doing here?"

  Ruth turned her head on the pillow, exposing the bruises on her face and one side of her neck. A lump rose to my throat. How could this strong and kind woman have elicited such violence? Her eyes met mine with a surprising intensity, as if she were trying to communicate something directly to me through pure willpower.

  "How are you feeling?" I asked her, ignoring the question.

  "Awful," she croaked. "Detective, could you leave us alone for a few minutes? I need to talk to Sophie Mae."

  Lane's expression was flatly unemotional. "There will be plenty of time for you to visit with your friends, Ms. Black. Right now I need you to answer my questions so I can find out who did this to you. You do want me to find the bad man who hurt you, don't you?"