by Lyndsey Cole
Annie jiggled the key in Sylvia’s door while Marvin shuffled next to her. “Hurry up before someone comes.”
“What difference does it make?” All his nervousness made it harder for Annie to get the door unlocked.
“Just in case.”
The door opened and Marvin rushed in before Annie had the key out of the lock. “Holy smokes, this place has been ransacked.”
Annie closed the door behind her and surveyed Sylvia’s once-tidy apartment. “The police had a search warrant, they must have done this.”
“A search warrant? How do you know?”
“I ran into Detective Crank at the hospital. She told me they found part of the Easter bunny costume in here and she’s convinced that Sylvia used it to wrap around her gun when she shot Forrest.”
Marvin stopped dead in his tracks. “Do you think Sylvia shot Forrest?”
“No. I don’t. And I told Detective Crank she needed to look deeper into how Golden Living handles their finances but she thinks it’s just another one of my crazy theories.”
“We have to take matters into our own hands then, to save Sylvia. We’ll have to find the real killer.” Marvin stared at Annie as if he expected her to snap her fingers to reveal the evil-doer.
“And what do you think we should do next?” Annie wandered around the apartment, picking up cushions, pillows, and clothes that were strewn everywhere. Her toe knocked against some bathroom items. She scooped up toothpaste, shampoo, prescription bottles, and a comb all tangled in a mess of unrolled toilet paper, returning the items back to Sylvia’s bathroom.
“I’m wondering about Shady Sean. I know you and Thelma were in his apartment a couple of times. Do you think you can get us back inside?”
“Why?” Annie had an uneasy feeling. Did Marvin also think Sean might be the murderer?
“I saw him going down the hall toward Gloria’s office before Forrest was murdered. Maybe he’s the killer.”
“And what are we going to do if he lets us in his apartment? I don’t think that’s much of a plan. You have to try to remember who else you saw. You told me that Dawn didn’t leave when she told the police she left. I overheard Gloria confirm this, too. Where did you see Dawn?”
“I saw her go out to her car but she didn’t drive off. You know, she has a brand new silver BMW. I wonder how she affords that. She and Gloria were arguing about something. I couldn’t hear, but I could see their arms flying in every direction and fingers pointing. I don’t know what either of them did after that because I got distracted when you came charging down the hallway.”
Annie put her hands on her hips. “And what about you, Marvin? You didn’t like Forrest. You were somewhere near the office. Did you kill him?”
His mouth fell open. His voice trembled quietly. “Forrest wasn’t my favorite person but I wouldn’t kill him. Or anyone. Not after what I went through. No, I wanted to figure out what he was up to and expose him, let the law take care of him. Let him suffer in jail.”
Annie believed him and was glad she finally asked him outright. “We can go try to talk to Sean.”
Annie spent several more minutes straightening up more of Sylvia’s scattered belongings. With each item she picked up, her anger intensified at the stubbornness and tunnel vision of Detective Crank; and the urgency she felt to figure out who murdered Forrest Spring.
24
“Come on Annie,” Marvin whined, heading for the door to go to Sean’s apartment.
“Listen. We do this my way or not at all.” Annie needed time to think; preferably without Marvin distracting her. She suddenly had a great idea to get Marvin out of her hair. “You know how Gloria said she’s working late tonight?”
Marvin nodded. His face lit up. “I’ve got an idea. While you finish up here, I’ll sneak into the bathroom next to her office and listen in on any conversations.”
Exactly Annie’s idea, but even better since Marvin figured it out himself. “Perfect, Marvin. Be careful. Don’t let anyone see you. Come back if you hear anything interesting.”
The door quietly closed behind Marvin giving Annie peace and quiet to think about how to help Sylvia. She didn’t come up with much before there was a knock on Sylvia’s door.
“Geesh, Marvin, couldn’t you hang out in the bathroom for a bit longer?” But it wasn’t Marvin looking at Annie when she pulled the door open.
“Annie? I saw the lights and thought Sylvia was back.”
The hairs on Annie’s neck rose. “Dawn. Maybe I can help you with something?”
Dawn walked into Sylvia’s apartment and closed the door. “Maybe. How is she doing? I haven’t been able to get away to visit her.”
“The police are guarding her room. That’s all I know.”
Dawn’s eyes opened wide. “Why?” Her eyes darted around but most of the mess was picked up.
“You’ll have to ask Detective Crank yourself. I came to pick up some things to bring back to the hospital for her.”
“Oh.” Dawn rubbed her arm. “I wanted to talk to her about this apartment.”
Annie waited, hoping Dawn would elaborate.
“I guess I’ll have to wait until she returns.”
“Have her return to her home so you can throw her out?” Annie’s words fell out before she could think. “How do you sleep at night, Dawn Cross? How can you treat these elderly people so cruelly?”
“What are you talking about?” She took a step closer to Annie.
“Stealing Sylvia’s money. That’s what I’m talking about. I saw her bank statements with big chunks of money withdrawn. For what? Did you think no one would figure out your scam?”
Dawn’s eyes narrowed. She reached her hand toward Annie but Annie backed away, keeping Sylvia’s small table between herself and Dawn. Annie’s heart pounded.
Sylvia’s door opened and Annie had never been so happy to see Marvin. “Are you all right, Annie?”
“Yes…Dawn was just leaving.”
“You two…never mind.” Dawn slinked from the apartment and Annie sank onto Sylvia’s rocking chair.
“What was that all about?” Marvin checked that the door was locked and sat down across from Annie.
“I honestly don’t know. She said she thought Sylvia was here and wanted to talk to her.”
“Harumph. That’s one big fat lie. I heard Dawn complaining to Gloria about how you’re messing up the deal with Thelma Dodd. Once they stopped talking, I came back here to warn you.”
This confirmed what Annie thought about how Dawn pressured people to sign their house away. These people had no morals and they had to be stopped.
“I’m ready to go visit Sean. But please, try to keep your comments to yourself. I don’t think Sean is a bad guy.”
Marvin scowled but kept quiet all the way to Sean’s apartment door.
Annie knocked.
They waited.
And waited.
“What do we do now?” Marvin asked.
Annie shrugged. She really had no idea what to do next. What she would like to do was head home to escape this crazy place but running away wasn’t an option if she wanted to stop Dawn.
Marvin knocked. “Open up, Sean. Annie has some important information.”
“Will he listen to you? I thought you two didn’t get along.”
Marvin shrugged. “We have a good act going, don’t we?” His lips twitched up at the edges.
The door opened.
“It’s late.” Sean’s wheelchair blocked the door.
“Let us in before Dawn or Gloria sees us here.” Marvin took a step inside. “They’re already keeping a close eye on Annie. We don’t have much time to fix this mess.”
Sean moved back into his apartment. “Do we have to do this now? I was about to go to bed.”
Annie looked between Sean and Marvin. “What the heck is going on? You two are friends? What else isn’t what it seems around here?”
“Sit down, Annie. There’s a lot you don’t know,” Sean said. “I�
�ll put the kettle on. Tea?”
Annie sat. Her head was spinning. What was she doing in this apartment with these two men? Either one could be a killer. No one knew she was here. Were they working together to find Forrest’s killer or working together to keep her from continuing her search?
“We had to be sure you weren’t connected to the management here.” Sean looked at Marvin. “One of us is slightly paranoid, but when you showed up with Thelma, I knew you could be trusted. Thelma is the best judge of character of all the people I’ve known over the years. Marvin wasn’t convinced though. I was surprised to see you at my door tonight. What happened to change your mind, Marvin?”
“The look on Annie’s face when I walked into Sylvia’s apartment just now. Pure terror that Dawn was planning to harm her. Annie was actually happy to see me for a change, right?”
Annie let herself relax slightly. “Yes, Marvin. I wanted to kiss you on both cheeks. But I still don’t know what’s going on.”
“Both cheeks, huh? Not sure I want all that slobber on my face.” Marvin brought the tea to the table. “The rest of those brownies would go good with this. I’ll get them from Sylvia’s apartment.”
“You didn’t eat them all already?” Annie teased.
The door quietly clicked as Marvin left without answering Annie’s question.
Sean had some papers spread on the table. “I’ll see if I can explain things to you. I found something interesting with Sylvia’s bank statements. Those withdrawals didn’t go to Golden Living.”
Annie waited, her hand suspended in midair. Her stomach clenched in a knot. “Where did they go?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.
“To Forrest Spring.”
“Why?” This was not at all what she’d expected to hear.
“I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’m sure I’m right about this. I have Forrest’s account information from when I bought something from him and did a money transfer from my account to his.”
“If those money transfers mean Forrest was blackmailing Sylvia about something, it only reinforces her motive to kill him.” Annie sipped her tea. “Do you think she is the murderer?”
“Annie, I wish I knew. My gut tells me no, but she does have that history of killing her husband in her past. Maybe she felt she had no other option.” Sean rubbed the stubble on his chin. “And we can’t exactly ask Forrest, can we.”
“Sylvia seemed to like Forrest and he was not a fan of the management here. Maybe she was trying to help him financially? Is that even a remote possibility?”
“I thought of that, too, but she really wasn’t in the position to help him financially. We can only wait until she can answer that question herself. For now, we have to figure out how to keep her out of jail,” Sean said.
“What have you put together so far?” Annie asked.
“Not much unfortunately. All I know is that people here are losing money hand over fist. I’m trying to stay in the background until I’m positive what’s going on so the mastermind doesn’t get tipped off. What do you know?”
“Just a bunch of theories without any evidence to back them up.”
“Let’s start with that.”
Annie took a deep breath. At least she didn’t think Sean would ridicule her like Christy always did. “Sylvia told me she saw a pile of cash in Dawn’s safe sometime on Wednesday but it was gone when I found Forrest’s body. Dawn told me that she deposited the money into the Catfish Credit Union. I told this to Detective Crank but I don’t know if she will follow up on it.”
He opened a notebook and jotted down some notes. “Something to follow, where did the money go? What else?”
“While I was finishing cleaning up after the Easter dinner, Forrest told me he was going to Dawn’s office to get paid. Here’s where I’ve tried to make something plausible out of what happened. Sylvia was in Dawn’s office and heard someone coming, probably Forrest, so she hid in the closet.”
“Why did she go to the office in the first place?”
“She said she needed to talk to Dawn about her financial problems.”
Sean drew a line on his paper and made more notes. “Go on.”
“Sylvia heard a gunshot. She texted Martha. We—Martha, my mother, and myself—were still finishing up in the kitchen and we ran to Dawn’s office. The door was closed and the lights were off. I carefully cracked open the door and reached in, feeling for the light. Once I peeked around the corner, I heard a sob and found Sylvia in the closet.”
“What about Forrest?”
“He was dead on the floor behind Dawn’s desk. I didn’t see him at first because I was helping Sylvia. Martha saw him. We called the police.”
“That’s pretty straight forward, but not good for Sylvia.”
“Right.”
Sean looked toward his door. “What’s taking Marvin so long? Did he say he was going to bake some brownies?”
Annie laughed. “No. I gave him a bag of brownies that he said he left in Sylvia’s apartment. Should I go look for him?”
“Probably or he’ll eat them all himself. I’ve never known anyone with a bigger sweet tooth. I’ll work on the timeline while you’re gone, adding in what you’ve told me to what I know.”
Sean tore out a clean sheet of paper and was lost in his work by the time Annie pushed herself away from the table. She walked to Sylvia’s apartment, glad to see that the hallway was deserted. She pushed the door open. It was dark. She stood perfectly still and listened.
Silence.
“Marvin?” she whispered. “Are you in here?”
Silence.
Where did he go?
Annie flipped the light switch up. Sylvia’s apartment filled with brightness. She walked in and scanned the area. No Marvin. She checked the bedroom and bathroom. No Marvin. He must have gone to his apartment for some reason. To eat the brownies in secret? Annie hoped it was something that simple.
25
Annie left Sylvia’s apartment and turned to lock the door.
“Annie, I didn’t know you were still here.” Annie almost jump out of her skin. “I thought you already left with Sylvia’s things. Did you find everything you need?”
“Oh…Dawn.” Annie’s hand flew to her chest. “You startled me. “Yes, I…uh, already put her things in my car but I wasn’t sure whether I remembered to lock the door.”
“Great. I’ll walk you back to your car since I’m finally on my way home, too.” Dawn smiled and waited for Annie.
“Oh…um…I have to tell Marvin what time I’ll be back to take him to the hospital to see Sylvia tomorrow.” She stood in the hallway, hoping Dawn would accept her flimsy excuse for not leaving yet on top of her lie about putting Sylvia’s things in her car.
“Just send him a text message.” Dawn kept her eyes on Annie’s face.
Annie laughed nervously. “He gets confused with his phone. I’d better just pop over and tell him in person.” She started walking toward Marvin’s apartment, desperate to get out from under Dawn’s glare. She forced herself to act cool, calm, and collected when she really wanted to make a mad dash for safety.
“Okay. Good night, then.” Dawn’s voice echoed in the deserted hall.
Annie could hear the tap of Dawn’s shoes receding. She glanced over her shoulder to be sure Dawn was moving away from her before she knocked on Marvin’s door. No answer. Where was he?
At the end of the hall, Sean’s door creaked open and Marvin’s face popped through the crack. “Psst…Annie.” Marvin waved her toward the open door. She gratefully slipped inside, willing her heartbeat to calm.
“What did Dawn want?” Marvin asked.
Annie moved toward a chair, hoping her trembling legs would support her long enough to get to it. “I don’t know, but she appeared behind me and scared me out of my skin again.”
“That’s the second time tonight she crept up on you. Maybe you should head home and get away from this place.”
“Dawn said she w
as going home so I shouldn’t run into her again tonight.” Annie looked at Sean. “How’s that timeline coming along?”
He slid the paper across the table. “There are a lot of holes, but Marvin did add some more pieces.”
Annie focused on the paper, reading it slowly, top to bottom, before she looked up. “So, you both think Dawn killed Forrest?”
“We put her at the top of the list,” Sean explained. “One, the safe was open in her office. Two, she knew Forrest would be stopping by to get paid. Three, she lied to the police about the time she left, according to what Marvin saw. And four, she’s the one who controls all the paperwork about the people who live here so she’d have that biggest motive to silence anyone who was onto her scheme.”
Annie didn’t disagree with anything Sean said, especially after overhearing Dawn and Gloria’s conversation about letting Sylvia take the fall. But, she saw a few holes. “How did Dawn get Sylvia’s gun?”
“It’s possible that she broke into Sylvia’s apartment and stole it. Sylvia never reported it being missing and there have been quite a few breakins recently. As a matter of fact, someone broke into my apartment when I was gone to a doctor’s appointment.”
“What is getting stolen?”
“No one is sure, but they can tell a drawer was rifled through or a couch cushion was knocked to the floor. In my case, a whole folder of papers was missing.”
That answer surprised Annie. She thought she might have to confess to taking one paper from Sean’s desk. Apparently someone else was interested in what Sean was doing and stole the whole folder.
“Were they important papers?”
Sean laughed. “I guess someone thought so. They were actually copies of papers from Dawn’s safe but I hadn’t uncovered any useful information.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t ask, but how did you get papers from Dawn’s safe?”
“You’re right, you shouldn’t ask.” Sean had a smile on his face, but Annie knew she would not get any more information from him.
Annie took that to mean she should stop asking questions so she brought the conversation back to Sylvia. “Let’s say Dawn shot Forrest while Sylvia was hiding in the closet. Then what did she do?”
