Traci Tyne Hilton - Mitzi Neuhaus 04 - Frozen Assets

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “If you let me handle the paperwork,” Zachary shot a disgusted glance at Mitzy, “we would all come out ahead.”

  Karina folded her arms across her chest.

  “I tell you what…” Mitzy was ready to burst. The tension was about to kill her. “Why don’t you draw up an offer on your end and fax it to me. Forget that I’m here at all. Write up exactly as you would if I weren’t here. Karina has to move somewhere. She and I can work out my part of things on our own.”

  “Mitzy…” Karina’s voice held a warning.

  “Let’s just see what he has to say, okay? If he is in the ballpark, we might be able to work something out. It’s just a regular negotiation without any sentimentality,” she nodded at Zachary, “or any acrimony.” She made eye contact with Karina.

  The muscles around Karina’s mouth relaxed, but she didn’t smile.

  “Zachary, this is my card. And my condolences on the loss of your father. I am truly sorry.”

  “He’s not,” Karina said.

  “Mom.” Zachary’s voice was so quiet it was hard to hear.

  Karina’s face jerked to meet his eyes.

  “You know that’s not true.” Zachary’s voice broke like a child’s. Deanna wrapped her arm around his and patted it.

  A fat tear rolled down Karina’s cheek. She held her trembling hand out to her ex-step-son. “Just… fax the offer to Mitzy, okay?” Her voice shook like her hand. “She’ll help me read and understand it.”

  Zachary reached for her hand. They touched, just fingertips, for a moment.

  Deanna stood up. “Thank you, Karina, for being willing to consider this.” Deanna had a small but definitely “showing” baby bump.

  Zachary also rose.

  “I’ll contact you as soon as we’ve looked the offer over.” Mitzy stayed seated with Karina as the Englishes left. “It looks like you are going to be a grandma,” she said as soon as they were gone.

  Karina nodded, then lay her head down on her arm and wept.

  As Mitzy drove home, she remembered the woman in the restaurant at The Portland. The shabby woman. It had been Deanna. Had Karina ignored her purposefully or had she really not known her sort-of-daughter-in-law?

  ***

  Was eliminating a suspect the same thing as getting closer if you didn’t have anyone else in mind? From the tone of voice when Zachary spoke of his father, to his slight build and just average-tall height, Mitzy was sure he was not the “elf” by Arnold’s side the night of his death. But if it wasn’t him, who was it?

  Alonzo was working late, but he had called just to say that he was currently clueless. Mitzy chewed the end of her pencil and considered her options.

  None.

  She had no other ideas.

  Except maybe to talk to Ulrike at English Cottages again. Mitzy jotted some quick notes on what she wanted to learn from Ulrike. Not that she wanted to refer to notes when she got there, but she needed to organize her mind before she went.

  Her main question was simple: Who were Arnold’s friends these days? The rest of her questions flowed from there. What kind of business deals did he have going? Who had he been doing business with lately? And last, but not least, where could Mitzy find these folks?

  It was after seven by the time Mitzy made it to the English Cottage development, but the light in the office was still on, and a few cars were parked nearby. Mitzy hoped Ulrike wasn’t doing business. She’d hate to interrupt a sale. Mitzy sat in her idling car and watched the office window. It was a cold night, and she had a feeling that the light rain falling would be slick ice before she went back home.

  No one was coming or going in the office. Mitzy hoped the cars were just guests of the handful of residents because she was going in.

  The blinds were shut, so even at the doorstep she couldn’t tell who was inside. She gave a light knock and then poked her head in. “Hope I’m not disturbing.”

  Ulrike was sitting at her desk across from Dirk.

  “Come in.” Ulrike smiled, but not with her eyes.

  “Mitzy!” Dirk stood up fast. He pushed his chair behind him with a screech. “I didn’t know. I, uh…”

  “I just dropped by to chat. If you guys are in the middle of something, I could go.” Mitzy nodded toward the door.

  “No, we’re just talking. Why don’t you have a seat, join us?” Ulrike waved to a chair against the wall.

  Mitzy pulled it up to the table. While she desperately wanted to know whom Arnold may have been spending quality time with, especially which of his friends could be called big and brawny, she absolutely needed to know why Dirk was there. In the last two days, she had had two emails from Bonnie with requests to see regular houses. She hadn’t even hinted at interest in seeing the English Cottages again.

  Ulrike cast a meaningful glance at Mitzy. “Dirk stopped in for some pamphlets.” She sounded like she was lying… badly lying. “And then so kindly asked if I was hungry. I hadn’t had a chance to mention you coming by yet.” A look or relief took over Ulrike’s tightly controlled face. Then she turned back to Dirk. “I hope you have the paperwork you wanted, but I do have plans this evening.” She stood up. “Mitzy? I’m ready if you are.”

  Mitzy also stood. “Of course.” She frowned at Dirk.

  His face was bright red, and first he sat again, then stood, then tripped as he tried to leave.

  Ulrike shrugged at Mitzy. It had to be like that for her, men, even other people’s husbands, sneaking around and asking her out.

  The three left the office together. The light rain had turned to an ugly sleet. “Say hi to Bonnie for me,” Mitzy said as Dirk almost ran to his car.

  Ulrike snorted. “Some men.”

  “I just feel sick. They’re newlyweds!”

  “As you are, right?”

  “Yup. We were married almost exactly a year ago.”

  Ulrike led Mitzy to a black suburban. “I am starving. Are you up for dinner?”

  “Of course.”

  Ulrike opened the passenger door for Mitzy. “I have a feeling you came to talk, so let’s drive together. Some questions are maybe better discussed when we are alone.”

  Mitzy hadn’t expected straight answers, much less welcome questions or even real privacy. She lit into her questions while Ulrike seemed in the mood to talk. “I’ve been trying to help Karina with more than her house.”

  “I assumed.”

  “Of course, that’s not why I brought Bonnie and Dirk to your place. Dirk’s interest just worked to my convenience.”

  “But not to Bonnie’s… or mine.” Ulrike shrugged.

  Mitzy’s face heated up. Ulrike was right on that count. “I’ve heard from someone who was awake at the time that Arnold didn’t go to Karina’s house alone.”

  Ulrike visibly relaxed. “He didn’t?”

  A little wave of sadness washed over Mitzy. So much infidelity and distrust. Ulrike seemed too young to be jaded, but clearly, she had feared the reason Arnold popped in to see his ex-wife. And then there was Dirk. Mitzy stuffed the anger down. She’d deal with the Dirk and Bonnie situation later.

  “No… he didn’t. Apparently he had climbed to the Juliet balcony with ropes and someone helping him from the ground. I thought maybe it was his son, Zachary, but I’ve met him now, and Zachary doesn’t match the description.”

  “They have a description?” Ulrike turned to Mitzy, swerving the car. “But that person could be the one responsible for Arnold’s fall!”

  “That’s what I thought, too. Have the police been by to talk to you?”

  “Of course they have. Three times now. But I’ve told them everything. I met Arnold. He charmed me, wooed me to the States. He gave me a job so I could stay here on a work visa.” She grimaced. “I showed them my pay stubs, my bank account. I showed them all of Arnold’s papers. I wanted to show them he wasn’t making me rich. I wasn’t a gold digger. I really did like him.”

  “What else did they ask you?”

  “They asked about clim
bing and sports. They asked if they could look through my storage for any climbing things. Of course I said yes. I was asleep when Arnold died. What did I have to hide? They found nothing. I don’t climb.” Ulrike held up a perfectly manicured hand. “I don’t like the outdoors, really.”

  “Did Arnold like the outdoors?”

  “No, not anymore.” She laughed a little. “He was getting a bit old.”

  “Who were Arnold’s friends? People he might have called on to help him with whatever he was doing at the house.”

  Ulrike exhaled slowly. “Who were his friends? I don’t know. Honestly. We’ve been having a honeymoon period—not a real one, of course. But we just spend—spent—all of our evenings out together or at home together. And of course we worked all day long. Work, work, work, you know?”

  “Yup, I do. So, you really never saw him with anyone?”

  Ulrike pulled into a parking lot. “I drove us to my apartment, but I will take you back to your car later. I just thought maybe something in the house would help? Karina would never come here, or Zachary or any of them. But since you talk to them all, maybe you want to look at his things and see what you can find.”

  “Really?” Mitzy tried not to look too excited.

  “Yes.” Her one word answer sounded tired, and her shoulders slumped. “My brother is coming over tonight. I will call him and have him bring some dinner home with him. He will be on his way.’

  The “apartment” was really a spacious loft in a converted warehouse along the Eastside Esplanade, not far from Mitzy’s commercial property. She hated rushing through the main floor, but she couldn’t let herself appreciate all of the original fixtures. Who knew when Ulrike would change her mind?

  “Is your brother visiting from Sweden?” Mitzy took a seat at the breakfast bar. In urban loft fashion, the kitchen was rather small.

  “Yes, and I’m so glad. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been all alone.” Ulrike set a bottle of sparkling water on the table.

  “How long has he been here?”

  “He’s been here a month. He wanted to try and talk me into coming home again.”

  “Do you miss home?”

  “I like adventure.” Ulrike tapped at her phone. “And romance. Arnold was both of those.”

  “When you first came, did you think you would stay forever?”

  Ulrike held up a finger. Then she typed a little more and set the phone down. “I didn’t know. When you live for adventure…” she shrugged.

  “What about now? Were you planning on getting married?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Arnold was a lovely man, really, but I was getting a little tired of Portland—no offense. It’s a nice city, but so dark and gray all of the time. Having Kjell here… well. I wouldn’t tell him this, but he had convinced me to go home.”

  “You’d want to go home before summer.” Mitzy twirled the bottle of water on the polished concrete counter. “Our summers have a way of convincing people to stay a little bit longer.”

  “Oh, yes. That first summer misled me.”

  “How did your brother… Shell you said? How did he get along with Arnold?”

  “Yes, Kjell, you said it right. He thought Arnold was an old geezer. When Kjell learned Arnold wasn’t even rich, oh, you should have heard him. I didn’t know he knew how to swear like that in English!”

  Mitzy sat up. “So, they didn’t get along?”

  Ulrike rolled her eyes. “Of course they did. They are men, aren’t they? Watch some sports, drink some beer, go to the bar. Whatever. Kjell was mad at me and thought I was being an idiot, but he thought Arnold was a great guy to hang out with.”

  “Everyone seems to love Arnold.” Mitzy sipped her water. And to hate him. “Kjell was Arnold’s buddy. Do you think he might have gone out with Arnold that night?”

  “To help him up to the balcony? I suppose if Arnold had asked he would have, but I don’t know. Kjell hasn’t been staying with us.”

  “Where does he live?”

  The front door opened with a groan.

  “Ask him yourself.”

  A tall, very tall, broad-shouldered man with white-blond hair walked into the kitchen. He set a bag of take-out on the counter. “I hope you like Chinese.”

  “Of course.” Mitzy offered her hand. “Mitzy Neuhaus.”

  “Kjell. Good to meet you. You’re a friend of the old guy’s ex-wife?”

  “I am.”

  Kjell grabbed the stool next to Mitzy. His legs seemed as beefy as his shoulders, but he wasn’t fat. He had the trim but muscular build of a professional athlete. He could have easily belayed for Arnold English as he climbed to the balcony. And he could have pulled him off just as easily.

  Sitting so close to a man who spoke casually of Arnold as “the old guy,” but who also might have killed him turned Mitzy’s stomach. Her car was across town, and she was at the complete mercy of these strangers.

  Ulrike passed around plates and Kjell opened the cartons of food. He heaped noodles on his plate.

  “So, what do you do?” Mitzy asked.

  “Basketball.” Kjell shoveled a forkful of chow mein into his mouth.

  “He’s on the Swedish national team. They’re really very good.” Ulrike’s face shone. “But that’s not his real job, of course, even if they are quite good this year. Kjell runs Daddy’s company now, exporting fish.”

  Kjell grinned. “Basketball is much sexier.”

  “She’s married.” Ulrike laughed.

  “Ah, well. I’m leaving after New Year’s. No point in falling in love now.”

  Mitzy blushed against her better judgment. “Why leave so soon?”

  “Basketball.” He shrugged. “’Tis the season.”

  “Do you want to bundle your sister up and take her with you?”

  “Yes. I’m sure she told you that’s why I came.”

  “I admit, she did give me a clue.” Mitzy moved her food around on her plate, but didn’t eat. This man was big enough and one of the few men who Arnold had been spending any time with lately.

  Ulrike jumped. “Oh, no! Mitzy I am so sorry. I just looked at the clock. I need to get you home.”

  Mitzy frowned. Her plate was still full, and it was hardly late, only eight. In fact, if Ulrike suddenly wanted her gone, she’d prefer to stay. She had hardly asked any questions, and hadn’t taken one look at Arnold’s stuff yet. She draped some noodles around her fork and took a bite.

  “I mean, of course, eat first.” Ulrike looked from the clock back to her brother.

  “There’s really no rush.” Mitzy dabbed at her mouth with a paper napkin. “Between you and me, do you wish you could go back with your brother immediately?”

  “I do want to go home, but now that Arnold is gone, I can’t just leave.” She drummed her fingers on the counter. “I can’t abandon the business. I can train someone, but that will take a while.” She looked at her phone. Her body language was anything but comfortable, and Mitzy felt the same.

  “No, that’s fine. I’m ready.” Mitzy grabbed her bag from the floor. Ulrike’s answers seemed to add up. She would love to leave but just can’t because of the business. Arnold wasn’t rich and didn’t leave her anything. Kjell… Kjell was huge, but he liked Arnold as a person and didn’t seem like a killer. So, who else was there? As always, she had taken one step forward only to find herself off the trail again.

  12

  Two days passed before Mitzy heard from Karina again. She had expected an offer to come in on her fax machine any time, but none came. Zachary seemed determined to work the sale without her help. It was beginning to feel a little personal, but she brushed it off. It’s not like he was her sister-in-law Aerin or anything.

  Mitzy parked Alonzo’s truck on the street in front of Karina’s house. The flurries of snow on the hilltop made her nervous, even with the four-wheel-drive. She didn’t want to have to back out of a driveway.

  Across the street, someone was salting Livia’s driveway. Mitzy
paused to watch. It wasn’t common to use salt for ice in Portland.

  But the man using it appeared to know what he was doing. He had long arms and cast the salt across the snow-dusted concrete in sweeping arcs. He looked up and caught Mitzy watching.

  She waved, and he smiled. His winter coat made him look huge, and he was a couple of inches taller than her. Maybe more. Was this Livia’s new man?

  And could this big guy be someone who had been friendly with Arnold?

  Karina greeted Mitzy with a tall cup of coffee. “Any word from Zachary yet?”

  “None. I thought surely he would have sent something by now.”

  Karina sighed and sunk into the leather sofa. Her shoulders slumped forward and her chin seemed to sink into her chest. She looked up at Mitzy with big blue eyes that looked so tired without any makeup. “What will I do if he won’t buy the house now?”

  Mitzy took her seat across from Karina. “I thought you didn’t want him to.”

  “I don’t want to give him a discount. That’s different.” Karina looked at her cup.

  “I’m concerned that they can’t afford full asking price.”

  “Why ever not? That Deanna is the daughter of Hugh Van Atter.”

  “Of Van Atter’s Aviation?”

  “Yes. Those two have plenty of money.”

  Mitzy chewed on her bottom lip. “Her dad has money, obviously. But she might not. They looked pretty down in the mouth.”

  “That’s their way. Don’t buy into it. I introduced Deanna and Zachary. Hugh is my cousin after all. I know they aren’t broke.”

  Mitzy pinched her mouth shut. The more she learned about this family, the madder she got. Karina’s step-son was married to her cousin’s daughter, but they hadn’t spoken to each other in over four years? “We saw her at the Portland Hotel, didn’t we?”

  Karina dismissed the question with a tilt of her head. “I think you should contact them and ask where the offer is.”

  “Why didn’t you say hello to her?”

  Karina inhaled sharply. “She didn’t say hello to me. I was sitting there, waiting for you, and in she walked. Took her seat where she could watch me, but didn’t say a word.”