“I went to Tagnello’s doctor, this morning, under the pretense of checking out his ability to complete some intricate jewelry work for Mrs. Bellington, I explained that she wanted to continue to use the same jeweler as her husband had, but that she knew nothing about him.”
“What he wouldn’t tell the police under confidentiality laws, he spilled his guts to a little old lady who presented no harm to his business,” Piper added.
“So, we used that information and the threat of the police searching everything he owned to scare a confession out of him,” Adams said. “And it was all Miss Lottie’s idea.”
“I’m very impressed, Lottie,” Patricia said, complimenting her housekeeper. “I guess reading all those mysteries has paid off.”
“Now, I have some other things to discuss with the family,” Miss Lottie stated.
“Are we in trouble for something?” Vanessa asked.
“No, Detective Piper and I will be leaving now. These other things are for family only,” Adams stated. “Thank you, again, Miss Lottie, for everything.”
Timmer showed the police out and returned to the living room. Miss Lottie looked at each of the waiting faces and started to talk.
“The night that Mr. Bellington died, it was not just myself and him in the house after eleven-thirty. Robert, you did not stay at the gentlemen’s club like you stated, did you?”
He looked at her blankly, not answering.
“No, he did not, Miss Lottie. He stayed in my apartment over the garage, with me.”
“Thank you for admitting that James. The phone records showed that the club manager called you that night to pick up Robert Jr. because he was drunk and causing problems.”
“Yes, that is true.”
“When you brought him home he wandered into the main house by accident, didn’t he?”
“I made him sit on the stairs that go up to my apartment while I went to put the limo away in the garage. When I came back, he was gone and I went searching for him. I figured he would head to the bar in the living room, so I went there looking for him.”
“And you found him and Mr. Bellington?”
“Yes, I did,” he answered, looking at Patricia. “Young Robert was sitting at the bar drinking. I knew if they found him there he would get blamed for his father’s death. He was so drunk that he doesn’t even remember that he stepped over the body to get the liquor that he was drinking.”
“So, you took the glass and bottle with you that Robert Jr. had used and brought him up to your apartment above the garage.”
“Yes, ma’am. But what I didn’t know was that Robert Jr. had taken the jewelry that was left in the safe and stuck it in his coat pocket. He passed out on my couch and I sat there, keeping an eye on him so he wouldn’t leave again.”
“But, you returned to the main house again?”
“Yes, I did,” he answered, hanging his head.
“It was you who took the bust of Patricia, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was me. I returned after Robert Jr. passed out and stole the bust. I figured no one else had seen it and I loved Patricia so much that I wanted to be able to look at it always,” he answered as Patricia lay her hand on his. “I hid the bust in the trunk of one of the antique cars figuring no one else but Mr. Bellington ever went near them.”
“You also hid the jewelry in the secret room when you found out that Robert Jr. had taken it.”
“He got up to go the bathroom and was fighting with his coat to get it off. I helped him and that’s when the bracelet fell to the floor. I searched the coat pockets and found the necklace and one earring. I hid it in Robert’s secret room figuring if I turned it into the police Robert Jr. would be blamed for his father’s death and the motive would be money which they were always fighting over. I was here to oversee the building of the secret room when the family went on vacation and I figured no one else knew about the room and the jewelry would be safe hidden in there.”
“And Robert Jr. entered the house the next day when the police were here, not remembering anything about the night before or how he got home. The last thing he did remember before the liquor took over was that he was at the gentlemen’s club.”
“Yes, Miss Lottie. I was only trying to protect Robert Jr. in his drunken stupor.”
“But, Robert Jr., you knew about your father’s secret room, didn’t you? You went in there and saw that the jewelry had been hidden there and you stole it a second time,” Miss Lottie stated.
“I didn’t know who else knew about father’s hidden room and all his secrets or who had put the jewelry there. I got mad and felt bad for my mother. I thought that because of all the years that he had betrayed her and had other mistresses scattered elsewhere, that she deserved the jewelry for all the grief that she would soon face when the word got out about my father. But, how did you know that I knew?”
“In one conversation you said to Vanessa, ‘you might as well spend the money before someone else does, implying that you were referring to your father’s other families’,” Lottie replied. “Another time you referred to your father’s mistresses, excluding your mother, as in plural, so it hit me that you must have seen the wall in the secret room with the three portraits.”
“Robert, you knew all this time about your father’s other lives?” Patricia asked. “But, you never said anything to me.”
“I didn’t want to see you get hurt, Mother, so I kept it to myself,” he admitted. “I didn’t know that you already knew.”
“You decided that your mother should have the jewelry for the Christmas party, so you used the secret entrance to the study and placed the jewelry in the crystal case hoping she would find it before the guests arrived. Only James saw you do it and decided that the bust had to be returned to make things right.”
“Yes, I returned the bust and set the jewelry on it and left through the secret entrance,” James admitted.
“That’s why you made the startled face, Robert, when you saw the jewelry that you had laid in the case was now on the bust that hadn’t been there earlier.”
“You are one clever woman, Miss Lottie,” Patricia stated again.
“Detective Adams said that no real laws were broken here and that the family had been through enough already. No one will be charged with any crimes and the detective is happy that they caught the killer.”
“I think that we need to put all this behind us,” Patricia stated. “No more lies will be tolerated in this house. We need to stand together and face what is going to come our way as a family. James, thank you for protecting my son.”
“Can I go shopping now?” Vanessa asked.
“Some things will never change,” Miss Lottie laughed, leaving the family to discuss what needed to be discussed in private. “A cup of tea would taste good right now.”
CHAPTER 13
* * *
Patricia Bellington reached out to Robert’s other mistresses that night. She invited them to the service the following day, even though it was short notice. They each declined, but agreed that they would get together sometime in the near future to talk.
Patricia had learned that Robert had set them each up for the rest of their lives and the company and any assets that pertained to her immediate family would not be affected in any of the settlements of Robert Bellington’s estate.
Kimberly Ann never made it back to school. She ran the company, side by side, with her brother and sat on the boards of many music schools. She appointed her mother co-executor of the estate and Robert Jr. the new CEO of Bellington Computers. Vanessa did go back to school and now heads her own design studio.
Patricia and James got married the following Spring. They traveled constantly and could finally enjoy their life together, out in the open for all to see. Again, her mother was a silent partner, but this time she welcomed the idea.
Miss Lottie is still the head housekeeper, but her duties have been cut in half and she enjoys a semi-retired life in her room with her mysteries.
Every once in a while, Kimberly Ann looks back on her father’s service. It had been small and private and one her dad would have loved. Robert’s ashes were spread over the skeet range like he had requested. There was no anger or animosity left toward Robert Bellington. It had been set free with his ashes that floated away with the windswept snows.
THE END
Cozy Christmas Murder Page 47
