“Don't worry,” Ruthie said. “I won't tell a soul.”
As she walked Maggie back out to the lobby Ruthie asked, “Who do you think killed Theo Eldridge?”
“Hard to tell,” Maggie said. “Lots of people hated the guy.”
“I had the biggest crush on his brother Brad,” Ruthie said. “Gorgeous George, we used to call him, do you remember? He hated that.”
“I had forgotten that,” Maggie said. “George Bradley Eldridge.”
After Ruthie hugged her and walked away the full import of her offhand comment sank in for Maggie. It was then she realized Gwyneth was not the only “G” Eldridge her brother Sean could have been writing to.
When Maggie got back to the lobby, she could hear Hannah's voice. She followed the sound to find her friend, who was in the sitting room handing out small kittens to anyone willing to hold one. The delighted looks on the faces of the residents as they held and stroked the little gray-and-black-striped balls of fur were touching to see. The kittens mewed, purred, and rubbed their little faces on the hands and arms of those who held them.
Maggie bumped her friend with her hip and Hannah said, “What?”
One of the caregivers asked Hannah if she would come back sometime and Hannah said, “Sure, I'm through here all the time, and there's no shortage of kittens in Rose Hill.”
Maggie was visibly aghast at this response and bumped her again, but Hannah just looked at her and repeated, “What?”
Eventually Hannah gathered up the kittens and put them all in a vented carrier lined with shredded newspaper. Everyone thanked her repeatedly, and made her promise to come back soon. Before they left Hannah suggested in a low voice to the caregiver that everyone should maybe wash their hands pretty soon, and the caregiver showed her the bottle of hand sanitizer she was carrying in her pocket. As they left she was squirting a dollop of it in everyone's hands, one by one.
Maggie held her tongue until they were in the cab of the truck, with the crate of mewling kittens seat-belted between them.
“What changed your mind?” Maggie asked.
“The visual of my mother you gave me, thank you very much,” Hannah said disgustedly. “Cause you know none of my lazy, good-for-nothing sisters-in-law are gonna take that crazy woman in. I thought I better check out my options.”
“What did you think?”
“I think it's the nicest raisin ranch I've ever seen,” Hannah said. “I put down a deposit on a cheap room for Alice.”
“You did not.”
“No, I didn't, but mark my words, the first time she can't remember my name I'm packing her bags and leaving her on their doorstep with a check pinned to her sweater.”
“What's the story on the kittens?” Maggie asked.
“Mama got hit by a car, so they need to be hand fed for a few more weeks, and then I'll try to find homes for them.”
“Good luck with that, right?”
“I thought I heard you say you'd take two.”
“No way,” Maggie said. “My eyes are itching just being this close to them.”
“You let Duke sleep in your kitchen all the time.”
“Duke only crashes at my place occasionally. We’re just friends; it’s not a serious commitment.”
Hannah rolled her eyes and said, “Heaven forbid.”
Maggie ignored the dig.
When they stopped at the grocery store, Hannah left the truck running to keep the kittens warm and hurried into the IGA to get Maggie's pepperoni rolls. Maggie used a nearby pay phone to call Scott and tell him what Ruthie said.
“Thanks,” he said after she was through. “I'll go to the bank now and get somebody to show me Margie's account, try to see where Enid's money is going.”
“Don't you need a warrant?” Maggie asked.
“I’ll just mention to Knox that I know what Theo had on him,” Scott said.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Maggie asked. “I’m just thinking of what happened to Anne Marie.”
“I’m not afraid of Knox.”
“Just don’t drink anything he offers you.”
“No worries. I’ll tell you all about it later tonight, when I see you.”
“If you see me.”
Scott laughed wickedly and hung up.
When Hannah returned to the truck, she was waving a plastic bag of pepperoni rolls over her head.
“I got 'em,” she said breathlessly, as she got in the truck on a wave of cold air. “I had to knock several old people out of the way and wrestle the last bag away from an orphan in a wheelchair, but I got 'em.”
Maggie opened the bag and inhaled the aroma of greasy sticks of pepperoni encased in soft yeast rolls.
“My mother would kill me if she knew we were doing this,” she said.
On the way home she thought more about what Ruthie had told her, and about the possibility that Sean was writing love letters to Brad Eldridge. If her brother was gay, it would explain why he was so secretive, and why he stayed away from Rose Hill for so long.
A small town can be a wonderful place to live, but Maggie knew to some people it can be a prison, or a public court of small-minded opinion. It’s probably easier to protect your privacy in a big city, she thought. Scott hadn’t told her much about his visit with Sean, except to say he had an airtight alibi. He hadn’t mentioned the letters, either, so he must not have looked in the envelope. Maggie thought again about how much she abused his trust, and how ashamed she always was after the fact.
‘Why does he put up with me?’ she wondered.
When Maggie got back to the bookstore, she picked up an urgent message from Ava, and ran out the back door, down the alley, and up Pine Mountain Road to the bed and breakfast. She was breathless when she got inside, where it felt warm and cozy. In the front parlor she greeted Mrs. Lane, who cleaned for Ava on the weekends. Ava was in the kitchen, and put a finger to her lips to caution Maggie not to speak. Ava put the kettle on and Maggie sat on a stool facing her across the broad kitchen island.
As soon as they heard Mrs. Lane go upstairs Maggie asked, “What’s up?”
“I think Brian has been calling me.”
Maggie felt her mouth fall open.
“You think?”
“Well,” Ava said, putting a tea bag in each mug, “for a couple days now I have been getting these calls, and you know how overseas long distance sounds? Lots of clicking and static? This sounds like that.”
“What does he say?”
Ava poured hot water in both mugs and Maggie took hers, and added a heaping spoonful of sugar from the sugar bowl while Ava drank hers plain.
“He doesn’t say anything, just listens to me say, ‘hello’ over and over, until I hang up.”
“I know this is an obvious question, but how do you know it’s him?”
Ava leaned back against the stove, holding her mug with both hands. One of the things Maggie did appreciate about Ava was how normal she seemed even though she really was an amazingly beautiful woman. Maggie forgot that from time to time, but was reminded now. Clad in an old faded sweatshirt and jeans, with the barest makeup and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she still looked stunning, like a movie star playing a bed and breakfast owning single mother of two.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Ava said, “but since Theo died I’ve been expecting to hear from Brian, waiting for the phone to ring, or for him to walk through the door. If Theo was blackmailing him, I can understand why he couldn’t come back as long as Theo was alive, but now…”
“What will you do if he does come back?”
Unexpectedly, Ava got big tears in her eyes, and apologized, as if embarrassed to be crying.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Maggie said. “This situation would overwhelm anyone.”
“I’m not crying because I still love him, or because my feelings are still hurt he left us,” Ava said. “I’m crying because I don’t want him to come back, and I’m afraid if he does, Father Stephen and your mother will make me take him b
ack. I know to anyone else that would sound crazy, but you know what I mean.”
She was really crying now, and Maggie, who was not a hugger, knew she should do something like that, but really didn’t want to.
“Who could blame you?” she said instead. “Let’s see. He wasn’t a very good husband when he was here. He cheated on you repeatedly, left you with a little girl and a newborn baby to raise on your own, and cleaned out your bank account. Turns out he also borrowed money on your home and the lives of you and your children, for God knows what. You haven’t heard from him in what, six or seven years?”
Ava nodded, sniffing and blotting her eyes while Maggie continued, “I’m his sister, but if he does come back I think we should staple antlers to his head and declare open season on his ass.”
Ava smiled and Maggie wondered how it was that when Ava cried, she looked dewy and lovely, but when Maggie cried, she looked like she had a face full of bee stings.
Life was not fair.
Maggie left Ava feeling better, went back to the bookstore, and called Hannah.
“Where are you?’ she asked her.
“I took the kittens to Drew’s, picked up my dog from my Dad’s, and now I’m driving up Rose Hill Avenue looking for a place to park. Who are all these people?”
“They’re tourists,” Maggie told her, “and they all buy cappuccino and books, so don’t complain or do anything that might drive them away. Park behind my car in the alley, and I’ll meet you at the back door.”
Maggie went behind the café counter, made Hannah a hot chocolate to go, and put two croissants in a bag. She made a cappuccino for her mother and got outside right as Hannah pulled in.
“What’s up?” Hannah said as soon as she opened the passenger side door. Maggie got in next to Hannah’s husky mix Jax, who greeted her with an attack of licking kisses.
“Yuck, stop!” Maggie told him, but Jax seemed to think she was just kidding.
She handed Hannah the hot chocolate and bag of baked goods around Jax’s interested nose, and when Hannah looked inside she said, “Sweet! Thanks!”
“I’ve just come from Ava’s, and she’s getting these calls that sound like long distance, but nobody speaks,” she told her. “She thinks it’s Brian.”
“I think it’s Theo calling from Hell,” Hannah said, “to complain about the heat.”
“A call from the great beyond,” Maggie intoned, “from the underworld he is forced to roam.”
“I hope he’s shoveling hot buckets of flaming poop all day every day,” Hannah said.
“I just hope he’s well and truly ashamed of himself,” Maggie said.
“So does Princess Ava want your brother back?” Hannah asked, as she backed out into the alley.
“She most certainly does not,” Maggie said.
Maggie hadn’t discussed her discovery of Patrick and Ava’s tender feelings towards one another with Hannah, and didn’t plan to.
“Well, why would she?” Hannah snorted. “She’s the queen of this town’s pity party, and everybody fights over who gets to wipe her nose whenever she sniffles.”
Hannah was not a big fan of Maggie’s sister-in-law. Sam had once confessed to having a big crush on Ava in high school, and Hannah had never forgiven her.
“She’s teetering on the pedestal now, though,” Maggie said. “Theo leaving her all that money has the town gossiping, and it doesn’t matter if she’s innocent or not; as far as they’re concerned she’s guilty by association.”
“Why do you think he left it to her?” Hannah asked, as they reached the college end of the alley, turned right, and slowly drove down Daisy Lane, a narrow road between the college and the town, to reach Rose Hill Avenue.
“You saw the shrine on the wall,” Maggie said. “It must have been one of those unrequited obsessions which festered over the years. Everyone knows Theo was selfish and stingy, so he must’ve really been nuts about her, and wanted to be sure she was taken care of if something happened to him.”
Hannah was driving slowly, so she could steer, eat, and drink her hot chocolate. They turned left at the light onto Pine Mountain Road.
“You know Sam’s cousin Edie, who works for the county clerk?” Hannah asked.
Maggie nodded.
“She saw the will, and she said Theo left Ava all the money in a trust, in such a way that Brian would not be able to touch it.”
“Really?” Maggie said. “I didn’t have the guts to ask her about it.”
“Edie said that Caroline got the lodge and all the acreage, and don’t you just bet that Gwyneth is fit to be tied about that.”
“Good,” Maggie said.
Hannah double parked to let Maggie out, saying, “Here you go, Madam, door to door service, one block away, the long way.”
“I wish Caroline would come back,” Maggie said, and patted Jax as she opened the door.
“What religion is she now?” Hannah asked as Maggie got out.
“Buddhist, I think.”
“Is that the one where they don’t eat cows?”
“No, that’s Hindu.”
“Wasn’t she in a vegetarian one once? One time she fixed us rice and peanuts you had to scoop up with flatbread.”
“That was when we visited her at the Krishna palace; that’s what you’re thinking of.”
“I liked the rice and peanuts, but that bread had no taste at all.”
“Trust you to remember the food, but not the philosophy.”
“I’m sure she’ll tell us all about it when she gets here,” Hannah said with a sigh.
“Just try stopping her,” Maggie said
“Hey, speaking of food, where are we eating lunch?” Hannah asked, as she finished the last of her second croissant.
Maggie shook her head and shut the door.
Scott spent the rest of his morning making phone calls and talking to a few key people before he felt armed well enough to tackle Margie. He wanted to complete as much of his own investigation as possible before the Feds came in and took over. They would be even less likely to involve him in their inquiries than Sarah was, and he would be powerless to protect the people he cared about most.
Knox wasn’t in, but Courtenay gave him no trouble at all with his request, merely looked up the account, verified what Scott suspected, and printed out the past two years’ worth of activity, while giving Scott a peek down her blouse as she did so.
Armed with both hard evidence and a hell of a bluff, Scott stopped Margie at the back door as she was leaving work at noon.
She let him back in, wary, and not meeting his eyes, saying, “I can’t stay long. I have to get home to Mother.”
He outlined all the mail-related complaints he’d found in the station files, what he had discovered about Lily Crawford’s card, and the stack of magazines addressed to other people he’d found in her house.
She stood with her arms crossed, refusing to meet his eyes, and said, “No one will ever believe you. You can’t prove any of it.”
Scott felt confident he had enough evidence to get her fired. He didn’t plan to arrest her, but he wanted her to think he might. It all depended on what she would or would not admit.
His voice was steady and quiet as he delivered his bluff.
“I also have evidence that you took child pornography photos mailed to someone else, put them in an envelope addressed to Willy Neff, and then turned those photos over to the police, claiming they were Willy’s.”
She gasped and all the color drained out of her face. It was the first time she looked him in the eyes during the confrontation, and what Scott saw there was pure animal fear.
He had her, so he drove his bluff home, saying, “I went back over the evidence, and it was all stuff you put together. As soon as I get you fired, we can reopen Willy’s case. Do you know what the punishment is for someone, let alone a U.S. postal service employee, who tampers with the mail? You made a false accusation that sent a man to prison. What do you think a jury will do, Margie? You�
��ll probably be in federal prison for the rest of your life.”
Margie’s eyes were wide and fixed, gazing into the distance as if she was picturing what was about to happen to her.
“I didn’t mean for it to go that far,” she said quietly.
Scott held his breath as she did exactly what he hoped she’d do. She confessed.
“I only wanted to embarrass him,” she said.
“Because he was kind to you, and you thought it meant more than it did.”
She turned on him then, and her nasty streak showed itself before she could stop herself.
“He said he didn’t mean anything by it, that he just wanted to be my friend. He felt sorry for me. He was the biggest loser in this town, and he felt sorry for me! I’m glad he went to prison, and I’m glad he’s dead.”
The look on her face was one Scott hoped never to see again. All that rage, contempt, and hatred, all because Willy had been kind to her, but not in love with her.
Too late, she realized what she’d just done. Scott could see the wheels turn in her head as she tried to think of a way out.
“My mother,” she said, with new, big tears glistening in her eyes, and lower lip trembling. “This will kill her, Scott. Don’t arrest me. I promise I will never mess with the mail again. I need this job, and I’m all she has in the world. Please, Scott, I’m begging you; for my mother’s sake.”
She was crying pitifully now, but Scott had prepared himself for that.
“Is this the same mother whose pension and social security payments have been depositing directly into an account with your name and hers on it? An account with over $150,000.00 in it?”
Margie’s head popped back and her mouth dropped open.
“What a devoted daughter you are,” Scott said. “Stealing your mother’s money while making her live in poverty.”
“I’m saving that money in case something happens to me,” Margie protested. “It’s to pay for her long term care if she has to go into a nursing home.”
“I understand your mother wanted to go into the new facility in Pendleton, but you told her she couldn’t afford it.”
“She didn’t; that’s a lie!”
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