“Maybe it was the company you were eating them with,” Aunt Lindy said. “You and Michael were inseparable during those weeks you spent here in the summer.”
“We fought a lot.” Alex scooted a bite of pie back and forth on her plate with her fork.
“You did that.” Reece laughed again. “The door would slam and you’d stomp up the stairs. Adele always wanted to go after you, but I told her to let you be. Five minutes later you’d be running back out the door. We’d look outside and there would be Michael leaning against the maple tree waiting.”
And now here he was still waiting. “She just wanted to give me a chance to admit she was right.”
“That’s because I was right.” Alex grinned over at Michael and finally put a bite of the pie in her mouth. Then her smile disappeared as she pushed the rest of the pie away and ran her finger around the handle of her coffee mug. And that quickly the easy feeling between them limped away.
“You two always had fun together.” Aunt Lindy tried to bring back the warm feeling that had been around the table a moment before, but it didn’t work.
“You might as well tell them.” Reece didn’t wait for Alex to speak up. “Alex is heading back to the city. She’s got things to do besides babysit her old uncle. Important cases.”
“Now, Uncle Reece, you know I’d stay here as long as you needed me.” Alex looked over at Reece and then let her gaze slide past Michael without meeting his eyes. “But I do have cases to handle. My firm has been very understanding, but you’re getting better. I found somebody to come in to do the cooking and household chores. And a nurse will stop by to check on you a couple of times a week. You’ll be fine.”
Michael didn’t doubt she was right about Reece. He wasn’t so sure about himself. “When’s your flight out?”
“Day after tomorrow. I need to be here tomorrow when the helper comes the first time.” She kept her eyes on her coffee cup. “I’d like to stay longer. But you know how it is. The obligations of the job.”
“Right.” Aunt Lindy’s voice was clipped as she pushed back from the table. “And I’d better get home and take care of a few of my obligations. Always papers to grade.”
“I’ll walk you home.” Michael stood up.
Aunt Lindy frowned at him. “I’m perfectly capable of walking back to my house.”
He met her stare without giving an inch. “It’s dark and there’s a murderer on the loose.”
“But you and Alexandria have some catching up to do before she flies away.” Aunt Lindy gave Michael a meaningful look.
“I’m not letting you walk home alone in the dark. I’ll call Alex and make an appointment for later.” He smiled over at Alex, but she didn’t smile back. It could be she didn’t have any appointments open for him.
Reece looked up at Michael. “I’m ready for an appointment with some fish. You get that murderer caught so you can take me out in my boat. In a weak moment, I promised Alex I wouldn’t go by myself for a few weeks.”
“You know what the doctor said.” Alex began gathering up their dishes. She glanced at Aunt Lindy and Michael. “Thanks for coming over, Malinda, and for stopping by, Michael.”
She turned to the sink without offering to see them out. They knew the way.
Aunt Lindy waited until they were on the sidewalk in front of Reece’s house. “That girl doesn’t know what she wants.”
Michael didn’t really want to talk about Alex. Not with Aunt Lindy, but he had no way of avoiding this conversation except to let her walk home alone in the dark. He couldn’t do that.
“Alex has always known what she wants.” Michael looked up. The streetlights hid most of the stars, but here and there a bright one shone through.
“You could be right.” Aunt Lindy’s voice was thoughtful. “She does know what she wants. She’s simply afraid to reach for it.”
“I don’t think Alex is afraid of anything.” He considered holding Aunt Lindy’s arm as they climbed the front steps but thought better of it.
Aunt Lindy pulled her key out of her pocket and unlocked her door. After she flicked on the inside light, she turned back to Michael. “That’s where you’re wrong. She is afraid and so are you. Afraid to admit your feelings.”
“I’m not afraid to say how I feel about Alex.”
“Perhaps not. But you are afraid to ask her how she feels about you.” Aunt Lindy’s voice softened as she put her hand on Michael’s cheek. “She loves you, you know.”
“But does she love me enough?”
Aunt Lindy looked at him for a moment, then blew out a breath. “I don’t know. And you won’t know either unless you ask.” She patted his cheek. “Good night, Michael. Go home and get some sleep. You’re going to need your senses about you tomorrow.”
“You mean to catch Sonny Elwood’s killer?”
“Well, of course you need to catch the murderer. That’s your job. But don’t forget there’s more to life than a job.” Her eyes narrowed on him. “And don’t let Alexandria forget that either.”
Grimalkin came down the hallway to meet her. Aunt Lindy stooped to pick up the cat, then gave Michael a pointed look. “If you have to make an appointment, then make that appointment.” Without another word, she closed the door.
Michael went back to his cruiser, but instead of starting it up, he pulled his phone out. He felt a little foolish dialing Alex’s number when she was right there on the other side of the door he was staring at. If she didn’t answer, he would go pound on that door.
But she did answer. “Something wrong, Michael?” She sounded worried.
He wanted to say that everything was wrong, but he instead he kept his tone light. “Just calling to make that appointment. You got a free hour tomorrow afternoon?”
She laughed, the sound a balm to his heart. “You don’t have to make an appointment to see me.”
“Then how about you come outside right now.”
“Not tonight—”
“I know,” he interrupted. “You’re tired. I’m tired.”
“Well, you are. I am.”
“So reserve an hour for me around one o’clock tomorrow.”
“Okay. Okay. If you have time,” she said. “You do have a murderer to catch.”
“I’ll take time. The bad guys can wait.”
“Bad guys don’t wait until things are convenient. You know that.”
“But even the good guys can take a few minutes for lunch. I’ll eat a sandwich under the maple tree here in your yard.” He paused a minute. “You want me to bring you some yogurt?”
She laughed again. “Don’t bother. I’ll get Uncle Reece’s new helper to bake us some chocolate chip cookies.”
“Who did you get?”
“Felicia Peterson.”
Michael frowned, not sure he’d heard her right. “You’re kidding.”
“Why would I be kidding about that? Betty Jean told me to call her mother to find out who I might get. Mrs. Atkins came up with this Felicia’s name right away. Said she’d been helping out an older lady here in Hidden Springs, but that woman was in a care facility now. Is something wrong with Felicia?”
“She’s had her problems with jobs in the past, but right now I guess her biggest trouble is that she was Sonny Elwood’s girlfriend.”
“Oh no. So you think she won’t show up in the morning?” Alex rushed on before he could answer. “I guess that sounds heartless but Uncle Reece needs somebody to help him.”
He wanted to say she could be that somebody. But he kept those words to himself.
As he drove away, he thought about Felicia’s empty apartment. He did sincerely hope Felicia showed up somewhere in the morning. She hadn’t called him.
28
The next morning Michael made the rounds. Checked to make sure no one was skulking around the high school. He radioed Lester to watch for anything unusual at the elementary school. He figured that would have Lester patrolling around the school all day. But that was okay. Michael intended to keep Ma
ggie and her little brother safe.
Michael drove by the Fast Serve, where Maggie’s mother reported they hadn’t received any new threatening calls.
“My husband wanted to keep Maggie home from school.” Dark circles under Mrs. Greene’s eyes showed she hadn’t gotten much sleep. “But I thought that would make things worse for Maggie. With nothing to do but think about it all day. She’ll be all right at school, won’t she?”
“She’s safe at school.” Michael hesitated but then asked, “Curt all right?”
Maggie’s mother actually smiled. “He doesn’t want to tell everybody this yet, but he’s going to AA meetings. That has to be good, doesn’t it?”
Michael agreed it was good, but then made her smile disappear when he reminded her to let him know if they got any other calls. He ate the Fast Serve sausage biscuit on the way to the office.
Main Street looked the same as any other morning, except that a wreath hung on Geraldine Harper’s realtor office. Her funeral was at two. Lana Waverly had a closed sign on her door. She must be content to let Cindy have the breakfast crowd. Two storefronts down, Bygone Treasures was open for business. Vernon Trent was rearranging the furniture displayed in the picture window. He threw his hand up in a wave as Michael passed in his cruiser. Maybe after Michael checked in at the office, he’d walk back up the street to have a talk with Vernon. See what his intentions were with Betty Jean.
Then again, Betty Jean appeared to have a new suitor in town. Michael hoped Betty Jean wouldn’t decide to follow Grant Harper to Florida. With a little encouragement, she might do just that. With encouragement, could Michael follow Alex to Washington, DC?
Michael radioed Betty Jean and then made a slight detour by Mrs. Gibson’s Gentle Care Home. He wanted to make sure Miss Fonda didn’t make an escape back to her house while it was crawling with crime technicians.
“Poor dear.” Mrs. Gibson paused from clearing off the breakfast table and looked at Michael. “It would upset her to no end to see her house like that.” She clicked her tongue. “It’s all just so hard to believe.”
“Yes, it is.”
She sniffed a little. “I didn’t tell Miss Fonda about Sonny. I didn’t see any reason to. It wasn’t like she was fond of him or anything. She said he only came to see her if he wanted something. For her to die, she sometimes said. Then again, dementia can cause some patients to have delusional episodes.”
“Have you known Miss Fonda to do that?”
“Not really.” Mrs. Gibson began scraping and stacking dishes again. “She mostly just lives in the past. I couldn’t tell you whether the stories she remembers from then are delusional or not. I’m no spring chicken, but I wasn’t much more than a baby when Miss Fonda was dancing in the parlor at Chandler mansion.”
“She does love that house,” Michael said.
“That’s for sure. I never understood why Ellen didn’t hire someone to move in there with the dear old lady. She’s not a difficult case except for wanting to go home all the time.” Mrs. Gibson sat the dishes down and wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m glad enough for the business, but I feel sure Felicia Peterson would have taken on the job. Ellen pays her to come check on Fonda here, but Felicia says she needs more hours than that. She seemed pretty desperate for money when she asked me for a job a couple of months ago. I felt bad saying no, but I can handle things here with my daughters helping out now and then.” Mrs. Gibson gave Michael a look, as though asking for understanding. “Plus, with that trouble she had at the drugstore, I really couldn’t have her here with all the ladies’ pills, you know.”
“I guess not.” He should have gone by Felicia’s apartment to check on her.
“She was here this morning.”
“Who? Felicia?” Michael was relieved when Mrs. Gibson nodded.
“Yes, poor girl. Quite beside herself.” Mrs. Gibson clucked her tongue again. “Understandable, considering. I let her cry on my shoulder, but I didn’t let her talk to Fonda.” Mrs. Gibson’s mouth straightened out into a determined line. “I fudged the truth a bit and said she wasn’t up to visitors. May the Lord forgive me, but Fonda is my first concern.”
“So when was this?”
“You mean when Felicia was here?” Mrs. Gibson’s forehead wrinkled as she thought about her answer. “Early. Very early for Felicia, but then I guess this can’t be a regular day for her, what with Sonny and all. The ladies were still in their rooms waiting for me to bring them out for breakfast.”
“Is Miss Fonda in her room now?”
“Oh no. This is Tuesday. Puzzle day. She likes puzzles. Go on in and see her if you want.” She waved toward their activity room and then looked worried. “You won’t have to question her or anything, will you?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Michael could hear happy chatter coming from the other room. “I’ll come by and see her later.”
His phone jangled in his pocket on his way out to his cruiser. Betty Jean.
“Are you coming in?” No hello. Betty Jean sounded tense. “Soon?”
“I’m on the way. What’s wrong? Hank in there pestering you?”
“That wouldn’t be a problem. I’d just show him the door.”
“So what?” Michael got in his car.
“Congressman Carlson is here.” She was using her official telephone voice. “To report a crime.”
“Carlson?” It took a minute for Michael to pull up the name. “Bradley Carlson? Audrey’s husband?”
“Yes. He’s been waiting awhile.” She lowered her voice a bit. The man must be listening. “There are limits to patience.”
Michael knew whose patience was being tested. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Bradley Carlson stood up when Michael came into the office. Michael knew he had to be in his seventies, but if he hadn’t known, he would have never guessed him that old. The man’s hair was white but thick and wavy. He looked fit, with just a little extra weight around his middle. His gray eyes were shrewd and direct as he looked Michael over. No smile touched his lips as he shook Michael’s hand.
“I have been here almost an hour, Deputy Keane. Apparently your office lacks adequate personnel to handle the needs of the community.”
His voice was strong and firm. His manner suggested he was accustomed to having his needs met.
“We do all right most of the time, Congressman. This is an unusual week with a critical investigation going on. Plus the sheriff is on vacation.”
“Yes, Miss Atkins gave me that information.” He didn’t look toward Betty Jean. “She was very helpful but adamant that I must speak with you about the matter. But then she wouldn’t call to tell you I was here.”
“I called.” Betty Jean spoke up. It was plain Congressman Carlson hadn’t won any votes from Betty Jean.
“True.” He did give Betty Jean a look then. “After my patience ran out and I demanded you do so.”
Michael could practically see the steam rising off Betty Jean. He stepped between her and the congressman. “I’m here now. What can I do for you?”
“Arrest Lana Waverly.”
29
Silence dropped over the room like a shutter. Michael kept his face expressionless as he met the congressman’s stare. Betty Jean stopped typing on her keyboard. Even the phones stayed silent.
Just a couple of days ago Lana Waverly had done her best to convince Michael to pursue a murder charge against Bradley Carlson. Now Carlson was in Hidden Springs wanting Michael to arrest her. The last thing Michael needed right now was to get in the middle of a personal feud between the two. But he’d have to hear the man out.
“On what charge?”
“Extortion, blackmail, terroristic threatening.” The man’s voice rose a little with each word, his calm shattering. “I don’t care. I just want the woman stopped.”
“Are you saying Miss Waverly has threatened you in some way?”
“I think that’s exactly what I said, Deputy. Is there something wrong wit
h your hearing?” The man threw up his hands in irritation.
“I suggest you calm down, Mr. Carlson, and have a seat.” Michael motioned toward the chair in front of his desk. “Then you can explain what this is about.”
Carlson glared at Michael. Apparently, he didn’t like taking orders, but he did as Michael said.
“Want some coffee?” Michael stepped over to the pot behind Betty Jean’s desk.
“I didn’t drive five hours for coffee. I’ve already made that clear to your office help.” The man’s voice was tight. He looked ready to explode.
Michael glanced at Betty Jean to see if she was taking offense at his tone of voice, but she merely rolled her eyes. “And good morning to you too,” she muttered and started typing again.
“Why did you come all the way down here, Mr. Carlson?” Michael carried his coffee over and settled at his desk. “If you needed to report a crime, you could have done that where you live.”
“You’re right. I could have.” Carlson ran his hand down the button placket of his shirt, as though straightening a tie even though he wasn’t wearing one. The gesture seemed to calm him. “But when I found out Lana had moved to Hidden Springs, I decided to expedite matters and find a way to take care of this without making such a big splash in the news back home. Better for her. Better for me.”
“I’m not sure how being arrested could be better for Miss Waverly no matter where it took place.” Michael studied the man across his desk.
“All right then. Better for me.” Carlson’s eyebrows almost met in his frown. “I’m sick to death of Lana’s attempts to discredit me. But I’m sure you know how reporters are continually on the hunt to dig up stories about elected officials. Half of what they report is hogwash, but rumors once started are hard to squash.”
“What rumors are you worried about?”
“Maybe I should start at the beginning.” Carlson blew out a breath and stared over Michael’s head at the wall a few seconds. “My stepdaughter was not happy when I married her mother. I tried to reason with her, to win her over, but she has never been one to listen to reason. About anything.”
Murder Is No Accident Page 20
