by Terri Reid
“No, we kind of got involved,” Mary replied, opening the door and holding it for everyone. “So, I took mine with me.”
“Well, sit down and eat,” Stanley growled. “A woman in your condition needs to eat.”
“Mary, are you…?” Linda asked with a smile.
“Yeah, she’s pregnant, but no one’s supposed to know,” Stanley interrupted.
Mary chuckled. “Yes, Linda, I’m pregnant,” she said. “But it’s early still, so we were keeping it quiet for a little while longer.”
“Yeah, like I said, no one’s supposed to know,” Stanley said. “So, who told you anyway?”
Rolling her eyes, Rosie patted Stanley’s arm. “Don’t worry, dear, I’ll tell you later.”
Leaning forward, Linda gave Mary a hug. “Well, congratulations,” she said. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul. In the meantime, here are the minutes you needed.”
“Thank you,” Mary said, taking the envelope and placing it on her desk. “You really didn’t need to wait.”
“Well, I wanted you to know that someone else also requested copies of those minutes,” she said.
“Who?” Mary asked.
“Josh Johnson,” she replied. “It was so strange that out of the blue he would ask for copies too, that I thought you might want to know.”
“Thank you,” Mary said. “That is very interesting.”
“Okay, I’ve got to run,” Linda said. “Good luck with the rest of your afternoon.”
Once Linda left, Stanley leaned against the wall and folded his arms. “Well, I guess that’s that,” he said. “Josh must’ve killed his dad.”
“Well, before you jump to any conclusions, you might want to see this,” Quinn said, holding out an envelope for Mary.
She pulled out the contents and scanned them. “But this can’t be right,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Quinn said.
“You mean you found out that Sawyer Gartner’s property was the missing link?” Rosie asked, holding out a manila folder.
“Is this the paperwork for the sale to Maughold?” Mary asked.
Rosie shook her head. “No, actually, this is the paperwork from the purchase of his property from Maughold after the project fell through.”
Mary sat down at her desk. “What?”
“He bought back his property two months after the project was cancelled,” Rosie said. “He used a different trust account, so it would have been hard to trace.”
Mary flipped through the paperwork Quinn had just handed her and found the sale contract. “Okay, here’s the addendum,” she said. “In the case the project wasn’t realized, he had the right to buy back his property at current land values.”
“Did he sell the property at current land values?” Rosie asked.
“No, he sold each acre for $25,000,” Mary said.
“That’s more like residential acreage, not farm land,” Rosie said. “And he only paid $2,500 to buy it back.”
“Why would anyone agree to those kind of terms?” Mary wondered aloud.
“Well, iffen you thought you had a done deal,” Stanley said. “Or you were partnering with someone to make some extra money.”
Chapter Thirty-seven
There was complete silence in the room for a few moments; everyone just stared at each other, contemplating the enormity of Stanley’s words. Suddenly, the office door burst open and Josh Johnson strode inside shaking an envelope in Mary’s face.
“This will prove Abe had nothing to do with my father’s death,” he shouted.
“Well, this certainly is a day for envelopes, isn’t it,” Rosie said calmly. “I’m so glad I thought to be unique and bring my damning information in a manila folder.”
Josh froze and looked around the room at the rest of the group gathered there. “I, um, I apologize,” he stammered, until he saw Quinn standing in the corner of the room. “You! I might have known that you would be involved in a plot to hurt my family again.”
Mary took a quick longing look at her already cold lunch and sighed. Then she noticed that Dale Johnson had appeared in the middle of the room and seemed to be enjoying the ruckus. Sending a disapproving glance in Dale’s direction, she finally stood up. “Actually, Josh, Quinn has been helping me get to the bottom of your father’s murder,” she said, raising her voice above the din. “At your father’s request.”
Once again, a fragile silence fell upon the office.
“Come again?” Josh asked.
“Your father is my client,” Mary said. “He asked me to get to the bottom of his murder.”
“What are you, a psychic sleuth?” he scoffed.
“Well, Mary, that has a nice ring to it,” Rosie commented. “You might consider changing your title.”
“Naw, it would be too hard for people with lisps,” Stanley replied.
“What the hell?” Josh cried. “Are you people never serious?”
“We’re serious,” Mary replied. “Dead serious.” But then, she couldn’t help herself, she giggled. “I’m sorry, that sounded so lame.”
Josh threw the envelope on the floor and was going to storm out when Dale said, “He never did have a sense of humor.”
“Your dad says you never did have a sense of humor,” Mary called, stopping Josh cold.
“I remember the time I played an April Fool’s joke on him,” Dale continued. “Rushed into his bedroom with a broom and told him to stay in his bed. I’d take care of the raccoon.”
“Remember the April Fool’s joke with the raccoon?” Mary asked.
Josh turned around and stared, opened mouthed, at her.
“He nearly peed the bed,” Dale said, chuckling. “Didn’t think it was funny at all when I called out April Fool’s.”
“Your dad remembers you not thinking it was very funny,” she added.
“It wasn’t funny,” he replied. “Not as funny as the time we replaced his sugar bowl with salt.”
Gliding over to his son, Dale started to laugh. “It was a good joke,” he admitted. “And I was a spoil sport. Made those poor boys muck out the dairy barn for two weeks.”
“Your dad said he was a spoil sport and he made you and Abe muck out the dairy barn for two weeks,” Mary said with a smile. “He did admit it was a good joke.”
Josh grinned. “The screwed up look on his face when he gulped down coffee with three salts was worth the time in the barn,” he laughed. “Abe and I laughed about his face for months.”
Then he froze and looked at Mary. “How did you know that?” he asked.
Mary shrugged. “Your dad is here,” she said. “In my office. He just told me.”
Quinn looked around the room with panic in his eyes and Rosie took him by the arm. “I’ll explain it all to you,” she whispered. “While Mary deals with Josh, okay?”
Meeting Josh’s eyes, Mary could see both the doubt and the hope in them. “Ask me a question,” she said, inwardly feeling a sense of déjà-vu. “And I’ll ask him.”
“Tell him not to ask me any question about those magazines I found in the corncrib,” Dale grumbled. “I ain’t about to talk about those with ladies in the room.”
Mary chuckled.
“What?” Josh demanded.
Taking a deep breath, Mary repeated Dale’s words.
“I wasn’t going to ask you about those,” he shouted to the room. “I’m not sixteen anymore.”
Then he froze, eyes wide with shock and looked at Mary. “He really is here, isn’t he?”
Mary nodded. “Yes, he can’t move on until we figure out what happened to him.”
“He’s been here, stuck here, since he died?” he asked.
“Yes, he has.”
“Jessie used to say she could see him sometimes,” he whispered, awe in his voice. “We used to tell her she was nuts.”
“Jessie’s not nuts,” Quinn inserted. “She’s just more sensitive than the rest of you.”
Josh walked over and sat down on
a chair near the desk. “He was murdered.”
“Yes, he was. And I think we are close to figuring out who was behind it,” Mary said, sitting on the edge of the desk in front of Josh. “So what did you find in the county board minutes?”
“I found…wait! How did you know…?”
“Because I got my own copy from Linda this morning,” she said, holding up her envelope. “I just haven’t had the chance to read it yet.” She looked around her office. “It’s been a little crazy here.”
“Okay. Well, during all of the meetings prior to the sale of our land, Sawyer was talking up the project,” he said. “Saying how the ecological impact reports looked good and how this farm would be a showcase farm and we’d even get international visitors to Freeport because of it.”
“So, Sawyer was all for it,” Quinn said. “That’s not a surprise, considering how much money he made from the deal.”
“That’s just the thing,” Josh continued. “After the sale of our property, when the committee was going to actually vote, Sawyer does a one-eighty. He totally blasts the project, tells the board the impact studies were wrong, that the watershed impact would not only pollute the neighboring farms, but could threaten the city’s water supply.”
“Yeah, and in those days, whichever way Sawyer Gartner voted on the County Board, the majority followed suit,” Stanley added.
“That’s exactly what they did,” Josh said. “They voted it down.”
Mary picked up the pile of papers on her desk and flipped to the last one she’d been looking at. “The sale of the Gartner property was on May 25th,” she said. “Josh, do you remember the date for the sale of yours?”
“The same day,” he said. “The 25th.”
“So, Sawyer’s deal was probably contingent on the sale of your land,” Mary said.
“That’s a pretty good motive for murder,” Stanley added.
Mary nodded. “Yeah, but the tricky part is proving it,” she said, still flipping through the paperwork. Suddenly she smiled. “Well, it looks like we got a break on our side. Josh, why don’t you give Jessie a call and have her come over too?”
Chapter Thirty-eight
“So why don’t you want your husband to know about this?” Jessie asked as they entered the Lincoln-Douglas building later that evening.
“Plausible deniability,” Mary said, as they walked into the elevator together. “He’s not responsible for his wife breaking and entering.”
Jessie pressed the button for the second floor. “But I work here,” she said.
“And if you had asked to see Sawyer Gartner’s files from fifteen years ago?” Mary asked.
“They would have told me he is not my client and the information is confidential,” she replied with a sigh.
“Yep, breaking and entering,” Mary repeated. “It’s not only a building, it’s a file cabinet.”
“Okay,” Jessie agreed. “But if we told your husband, he could have kept the cops away.”
“The cops won’t come down here if we’re breaking into a file cabinet,” Mary reasoned. “But if a co-worker shows up, well, then, that’s another story.”
Jessie’s hand shook as she tried to put her key into the office lock. “You’re not making this any easier,” she said.
“How many times have you had to come back here to work on a file?” she asked.
“A few times,” Jessie admitted.
“And has anyone questioned you before?”
“No,” she said, with a slow calming exhale. “No, you’re right. We’ll be fine.”
She slipped the key into the lock with calm assurance, twisted it and pushed the door open. “Stand here while I disable the security system,” she said, moving over to the receptionist’s desk and leaning over the side.
Mary heard a few electronic beeps and then Jessie stood up. “We’re good,” she said. “All disarmed.”
“You have a security system at a CPA’s office?” Mary asked, a little surprised.
Jessie shrugged. “Well, all of the information here is confidential and someone could go to town with identity theft if they got into the files of our clients.”
“So, what’s next?”
“Well, let’s go to my office and see what we can find on our system,” Jessie suggested. “Generally we don’t keep files on the system that are older than five years, but we might get lucky.”
Ten minutes later, Jessie flopped back against her chair and shook her head. “We did not get lucky,” she said. “The Gartner’s have been with the firm for over twenty-five years and their accounts are handled by the senior partners.”
“So, what does that mean?” Mary asked.
“Well, I was able to hack into their current files,” Jessie admitted.
“Good for you!” Mary replied.
Jessie looked at her and shook her head. “I’m supposed to be an honest accountant,” she said.
“Okay,” Mary said, chewing her lower lip for a moment. “How about…excellent use of incorporating technical skills in a difficult situation?”
Grinning, Jessie nodded. “Much better,” she said. “But the bottom line is we don’t have the information we need. All of Gartner’s online information is only a couple of years old. The older stuff will be kept in the vault in the senior partner section and only they have the combination to it.”
“The senior partner section is the hallway I was looking into when I first met you, right?” Mary asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Mary stood up. “Well, come on, I have an old friend who might be able to return a favor.”
“What?” Jessie asked, following Mary out of her office and down the hall. “What are you talking about?”
Mary stopped in the reception area and faced Jessie. “So, Josh mentioned to me that you used to think you saw your dad around the house sometimes, after he died,” Mary said. “Is that right?”
“Yes,” Jessie said, shrugging it off. “I would catch glimpses of him all around the house. But I guess it was just wishful thinking.”
“No, you saw him,” Mary replied.
She watched one expression after another flit over Jessie’s face: hope, doubt, consideration and finally a little bit of healthy fear. “Do you think you see ghosts?” she asked, slowly stepping away from Mary.
Biting back a grin, Mary stepped away from Jessie. “Does this make you feel safer?” she asked. “If you’d like I can climb over the receptionist desk and we can yell at each other.”
Jessie stopped moving. “Sorry,” she said. “You just kind of freaked me out.”
“Yeah, people get freaked out when I talk about things like ghosts and spirits,” Mary said. “But not because they don’t believe in them. It’s usually because they sort of do believe in them, but are afraid to admit it.”
“It’s kind of hard to prove,” Jessie said. “Especially when all you see is a quick glance or you just hear his laughter over your shoulder.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Or you think he just told you he was proud of you. People think you’re kind of nuts.”
“I bet it felt good, though,” Mary replied. “Hearing him say that.”
Jessie wiped her tears away and nodded. “Yeah, it did.”
“Okay, well, since your dad is busy tonight…,” Mary began.
“What? Busy?”
“Yeah, he’s over at Sawyer Gartner’s house practicing his haunting skills,” Mary said with a grin. “Anyway, since he’s not going to show up and help me convince you, like he helped me with Josh earlier this afternoon, I’m going to have to call on someone else to help.”
“Someone else?”
“Yes,” Mary said with a quick smile. “So, tell me the name of the past senior partner who was a little man, who wore a dark suit and tended to forget where he placed his pencil.”
“Mr. Carpenter?” Jessie asked. “He died about two years ago. He was the kindest man in the world, but he was always…”
“Sticking his pencil behind
his ear and forgetting where he put it?” Mary finished.
“Yes,” Jessie said, a question in her voice. “How did you know?”
“When I was here the other day, he was in the senior partner hall searching for his pencil,” she replied. “I pointed it out to him just as you showed up.”
Jessie’s eyes widened. “When you were tucking your hair behind you ear?” she asked.
Mary nodded.
“That’s exactly what I would do when we were in meetings together,” Jessie laughed. “His eyes would open wide, he reach up and then he’d wink.”
“Exactly,” Mary said. “And since he owes both of us, I’m sure he’s going to let us into the vault.”
“But he’s dead,” Jessie repeated.
Mary started down the darkened hallway and then turned back to Jessie. “That’s even better, because then he won’t leave any fingerprints.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
“Mr. Carpenter,” Mary called as she strolled down the hall. “Mr. Carpenter, I really need your help.”
“Mary, really, he’s dead,” Jessie said, following her into the hall. “I know you’re trying to help us, but this is really crazy.”
The small man Mary had seen earlier stepped out into the hallway through a doorway at the end of the hall. “Hi, Mr. Carpenter,” Mary said. “I’m Mary O’Reilly, thanks for showing up.”
Jessie came up behind Mary. “Who are you talking to?” she whispered.
“Mr. Carpenter just stepped out of his office to meet with us,” Mary said. “That was his office, wasn’t it, at the end of the hall?”
Nodding, Jessie stared into the empty hall. “Yes it was, but Mary, no one is here.”
“Mr. Carpenter, do you remember Jessie?” Mary asked.
“I do,” the old man said. “One of the brightest accountants we had on staff. Have they made her a senior partner yet?”
Mary turned back to Jessie. “He wants to know if they made you a senior partner yet.”
After a burst of astonished laughter, Jessie shook her head. “Okay, I know he’s not there if he asked you that question,” she said. “They aren’t even considering me for that kind of promotion.”
