Murder in the Middle: A Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mystery

by Diane Weiner

  “Lynette, honey, I’m here. So is Jackson. Annalise is with Theresa. Don’t you worry about her.”

  Mike came in carrying three Styrofoam cups of coffee. “Any change?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Lynette, come on. How did you crash like that anyway? Told you I was a better driver. From now on, I’m behind the wheel of the cruiser.”

  “Jason hasn’t left the hospital.” Susan leaned in closer to her daughter’s ear. “We’re all so worried about you. Evan says this is one of the best trauma centers in the country so you’re in good hands. We all love you, Lynette.”

  Jackson squeezed Lynette’s hand. “This is a heck of a way to get some time off of work. I’m stress eating my way through every orange snack in the vending machine. If you don’t wake up soon I won’t fit in the cruiser.”

  “Do you think she’s going to be okay, Jackson?”

  “Lynette is as stubborn as a mule. She won’t let a little car accident get the best of her. She’ll be waking up any time now, you watch.”

  Mike put his arms around Susan. “Let’s go home for a few hours to shower and check on the cats. If, I mean when, she wakes up you have to be rested and strong.”

  “You’ll call if there’s any change?”

  “Of course I will,” said Jackson.

  When Susan walked into her house, Ludwig welcomed her with a meow and rubbed against her ankles.

  “I tried talking to her but I don’t know for sure that she heard me. Poor Jason looks exhausted. Jackson tries to pretend like he’s fine but I can see the concern written all over his face. They’ve been partners a long time now.”

  “Of course they’re worried. We all are. We’ll be back in a few hours. Go take a shower.” Susan glanced at the coffee table and saw the letter from the Georgia Babes Foundation. She couldn’t handle that right now. She wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water.

  “Mike, did you crack open the kitchen window?”

  “Are you kidding? It’s below freezing outside.”

  “I know I didn’t open it.”

  “Maybe you needed a little fresh air and just forgot to close it.”

  “Maybe so. I must have had one of those senior moments or something.”

  Mike and Susan were out of the house as soon as they showered and fed the cats. When they arrived at the trauma center, the nurse informed them Lynette was in stable but critical condition. She hadn’t yet woken up.

  Susan had to swallow hard to keep from crying when she entered Lynette’s room. There were tubes and so many wires. A foreboding hum came from the machines attached to her daughter. She grabbed Mike’s hand. She saw frown lines around his eyes and mouth. Then she noticed a large bouquet on the dresser.

  Trying to remain positive, she said, “Lynette, these flowers are beautiful.” She took a sniff and read the card. “They’re from your friends at the station. Isn’t that thoughtful?” There was no response. “These are gorgeous too. Carnations last forever. I don’t see a card. I wonder who sent them?”

  “I’m going to drag Jason down to the cafeteria for some food. He’ll be no good to Lynette or Annalise if he makes himself sick,” said Mike. He gave Lynette a kiss on the forehead.

  “Your Dad is taking care of Jason for you. I got a call from T.J.’s wife, you know, at the jewelry store. She swears it was Sophie who got that bracelet engraved, not Lindsay. They look alike you know.”

  Lynette began to stir. “Honey, wake up, that’s it.”

  “Mmmm.”

  ”Honey.”

  “Mom.”

  “Open your eyes,” said Susan.

  Lynette groaned. Then she opened her eyes and turned her head. “Mom, where am I?”

  “You’re at Dansfield Trauma Center. You were in a car accident.”

  “Car accident? Annalise?”

  “She’s just fine. We’re taking good care of her.”

  “My head hurts bad.”

  “Do you remember what happened?”

  “What?”

  “Do you remember what happened?”

  “I think so. I was driving home. It was dark out. I couldn’t see.”

  “Couldn’t see?”

  “My eyes were open, but I couldn’t see anything. Where’s Jason? Where’s Annalise?”

  They’re just fine. Jason will be right back. Susan felt her heart skip a beat. “Do you think…?”

  “Of course. It’s getting worse. I’m scared.”

  “Honey, don’t jump to conclusions. It could be the genetic thing.” Susan remembered the letter sitting on her coffee table. “In fact, I may be closer than ever to having answers for you.” A nurse walked into the room with a new IV bag.

  “I see you’ve woken up,” said the nurse. Susan noted a hint of surprise in her voice. Didn’t she expect her to wake up? “How are you feeling?”

  “My head hurts, and I’m really tired. What happened to my arm?”

  “Your arm is broken. I’m going to get the doctor. He’ll explain everything to you.” The nurse hurried out of the room, giving Susan a nod as she did.

  The doctor came in and Susan waited outside while he examined Lynette. Jason and Mike were still downstairs in the cafeteria. She tried calling them, but there was no service. A middle-aged man sat alone in the waiting room. She sat down next to him and felt words falling out of her mouth.

  “My daughter just woke up. I’m so relieved. She had an accident. Couldn’t see. She has this condition that’s scary. She might be going blind. That’s probably what happened. At least she’s still alive. She’s a detective you know. Westbrook Police Department.”

  The man didn’t say a word. It was as if Susan was talking to herself.

  Soon the doctor came back out.

  “Well, how is she?” asked Susan.

  “The fact she’s awakened is great news, and she doesn’t seem to have any memory loss. We’ll run some more tests, but I’m cautiously optimistic.”

  Mike and Jason returned to the waiting area. Mike handed Susan a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

  “Great news. Lynette woke up. The doctor just checked on her.”

  “Thank God,” said Jason. “What did the doctor say? I have to get in there.”

  “They’ll be running more tests, but at the moment things are looking up.”

  Jason ran over to Lynette’s bed, while Susan told Mike what Lynette said about not being able to see.

  “Don’t go saying anything about that. We don’t know what she’s dealing with yet. You have to make that phone call to the Georgia Babes.”

  “I will. Let’s say goodbye to Lynette and go home. I’ll call on the way.”

  As soon as they walked in the door, Susan picked up the letter and punched the numbers on her cell phone. Her hands were shaking and she had to start over three times before getting it right.

  “It’s ringing,” she told Mike. Her palms were sweating.

  “Hello, this is Susan Wiles. I received a letter saying you had some information.” She picked her cuticles. Was she understanding this correctly? “Yes, just a minute.” She grabbed a pen and jotted down some information. “Thank you so much.” Her legs were spaghetti and blood pounded through her veins.

  “Well? Are you going to tell me or are you trying to keep me in suspense?”

  “Mike,” constricted words sputtered out of her mouth. “They found my birth mother.”

  Chapter 48

  “Are you okay?”

  “I will be. I’m going to call this number.” Her fingers shook. She misdialed and had to start again. “It’s going to voicemail.” Her body relaxed. “I’ll try later.”

  “Can I get you something? How about a cup of tea?”

  “I’ll get it.” She walked into the kitchen.

  “Mike, the window is cracked open again. This time I know I didn’t open it.” Mike ran in and examined it. “Don’t touch it. Maybe there are fingerprints.”

  “Were we robbed?”

  Mike checked t
he laptop and Susan’s jewelry. “Nothing’s missing. Maybe one of the cats managed to open it.”

  “Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?” said Susan. “Let’s check outside.” They opened the sliding glass door and checked the porch.

  “Nothing looks out of place,” said Mike. “We can walk around to the front if it makes you feel better.”

  Susan stopped dead in her tracks. “There. See?”

  “See what?”

  She pointed to the ground. “Footprints in the snow.”

  Mike followed the footprints. “They stop here. He must have parked a car right here in our driveway. I’m calling Jackson.”

  When Jackson arrived, he examined the prints and open window. He took pictures of both and tried to get prints off the window sill with scotch tape.

  “No prints here. Must have worn gloves. Who do you think did this?”

  “It wasn’t a robbery. Maybe Rusty or Sophie know we’re getting close to finding Caleb’s killer. Could it be one of them?” asked Susan.

  “Even if they knew we were on to them, what were they looking for? I’ll go ask your neighbors if they saw anything.”

  “Wait Jackson. Maybe Lindsay Bateman. She’s cuckoo.”

  “One step at a time. Let me get on this. Meanwhile, keep things locked up. I’m sure Lynette’s told you that a million times.”

  “I always do, but the lock to that window is broken. I keep forgetting about getting it fixed.”

  “I’ll take care of that right now,” said Mike. He retrieved his toolbox from the porch.

  Susan couldn’t focus and forgot about calling her birth mother until it was too late. Getting the woman out of bed in the middle of the night wouldn’t be a great start.

  She went to the computer and searched. Florida. This number is in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Well, at least they were in the same time zone. Didn’t people retire in Florida? Her mom would certainly be retired by now, right? Flights to Florida were relatively cheap from New York. She was getting ahead of herself. This could still be a dead end, or maybe her mother wanted to contact her to say she wanted no further contact. She felt another sleepless night coming on.

  Susan’s cell phone startled her awake. Light from outside peeked through the blinds and Susan realized she’d gotten at least some sleep. Did Lynette take a turn for the worse? She exhaled as soon as she heard Lynette’s voice.

  “Mom, I need you to come to Dansfield right now.”

  “What’s wrong, Lynette?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. I’ll see you shortly.” Susan reached across the bed and shook Mike. She explained Lynette’s request and Mike called his boss to say he’d be late. Sheets of freezing rain pelted the roof.

  “Great. The weather’s going to slow us down,” said Susan. Mike assured her that he’d drive as fast as safely possible. After a few minutes in the car, Susan began picking at her cuticles.

  “Mike, can’t you go a little faster?”

  “The roads are slick. Stop talking. I have to concentrate on the road.”

  They made it safely to Dansfield and went up to Lynette’s room. Susan felt relieved. Her daughter looked a hundred percent better than the day before. A mostly finished tray of food was on the night stand.

  “Good to see you’ve gotten your appetite back,” said Susan. “What’s with that scowl?”

  “Mom, I couldn’t be more furious with you than I am right now.”

  “Why, Lynette? What have I done?”

  “I asked you not to tell anyone about my condition. You promised. I trusted you.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t go blabbing out in the waiting room? Come on, don’t lie to me.”

  “I may have, but I was talking to myself.”

  “Think hard. You were alone?”

  “There was one guy sitting there. He wasn’t listening to me. Looked like he was thinking about his own problems.”

  “That guy happens to be my boss. He came to see me. Boy, did he ever get an earful.”

  Susan wished the floor would swallow her whole. “Lynette, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

  “He knows I could lose my vision. He says I’m a danger to myself and others. He says I’m unfit for duty.”

  Susan figured after one look at Lynette with her splinted arm and gauze-wrapped head, he was already thinking that. He didn’t need Susan’s help to come to that conclusion.

  “Lynette, you aren’t going to be going back for a while anyway. You still have a lot of recovering to do.”

  “That’s not the point. I could have at least returned to part-time desk duty in a few weeks. Now I’m on leave indefinitely.”

  Mike, who’d been observing the whole conversation, chimed in. “Susan, what did you do? You broke Lynette’s confidence.”

  “Are you on her side? I didn’t mean to. How was I supposed to know the man in the waiting room was her boss?”

  “Now she has a big problem. Suppose it’s nothing, just a genetic condition. She may lose her job over this. You should have kept your mouth shut.”

  Susan couldn’t believe she was hearing this from Mike. “You’re kidding, right?”

  Mike rarely raised his voice, but now he was almost yelling. “You always have to butt in where you have no business. You just ruined our daughter’s career.”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” She slammed the hospital room door and stormed into the elevator. She felt her blood pressure rising. Luckily she had her own keys. Mike can find his own way home. The roads were still slick. She had to drive so slowly that it was frustrating. Every muscle in her neck ached. On the way home, she received a call from Jason.

  “Susan, it’s me. I just talked to Lynette and she told me what you did. How could you? That was supposed to be kept confidential.”

  “But, Jason, I was just telling myself maybe that’s why she had the accident. She told me she couldn’t see right before she crashed. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. Maybe it’s better her boss knows. Do you think she should be driving under the circumstances?”

  “She wasn’t going to be driving for a while anyway. Not with that cast on her arm. I’m so disappointed. I thought we could trust you.”

  “Go to hell, Jason. I know I did the right thing. I may have just saved your wife’s life.” She pushed the end button so hard she was afraid she’d broken the phone. She grasped the steering wheel. It’s for the best Lynette won’t be putting her life at risk. I can’t believe none of them see it my way. Then she leaned a little too heavily on the brake. Pirouetted in the middle of the street.

  Oh no, this is bad. She felt like she was riding a roller coaster in slow motion. She took her foot off the brake and steered into the skid. A van, honking vehemently, nearly sideswiped her. Her car kept spinning until it hit a snow bank.

  Now what am I going to do? I’m stuck and I’m sure not calling Mike or Jason for help. She wasn’t far from town. Could she walk home? No, that would be really stupid. I’ll call Jackson. She pulled her coat tight and wrapped the scarf over her nose and mouth. Her hands and feet were already numb from the cold. It wasn’t long before he came to her rescue.

  “Jackson. I knew I could count on you.”

  “Come on now, Miss Marple, what kind of mischief have you gotten into now?”

  Susan hugged him hard and began to cry out her anger and frustration. She explained the whole situation to Jackson as he tried to dig her car out of the snow bank. He turned the key in the ignition.

  “It’s not starting. I’ll call for a tow truck. Now about Lynette. She should have told me. I’m her partner. My life’s in danger too, driving around with her. I’m really miffed at her right now.”

  “Then you understand?”

  “I’m on your side. She shouldn’t be on duty. They’ll come around after they settle down and think it through.”

  The tow truck arrived promptly, surprising Susan. With the roads being slick, sh
e’d expected plenty of accidents. Then again, maybe sensible people didn’t venture out when the roads were bad.

  “Come on. I’ll bring you home,” said Jackson. Susan slid into the cruiser. Jackson received a call from the station on their way back. By the tone of his voice, Susan could tell that it was urgent.

  “Susan, I hope you don’t mind but we have to make a stop on the way.”

  Chapter 49

  The siren blared and Jackson pushed hard on the gas.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Jackson turned into a neighborhood which looked familiar to Susan. This was that Lindsay Bateman’s neighborhood.

  “Stay in the car. There’s some sort of emergency,” said Jackson. Susan ignored his request and followed him to the front door.

  “Thank God you came,” said Lindsay’s mother. “Lindsay has flipped out. She said she had to talk to the police. I found your number on her desk.”

  “What’s going on?” said Jackson.

  “Follow me.” She led them down the hall to Lindsay’s bedroom, where Lindsay was throwing books, papers, even the blankets from her bed. “She started having this tantrum. I can’t reason with her. All she kept saying was call the detectives.”

  “Lindsay, I’m detective Simpson. I’m here to help. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

  Lindsay screamed and threw her pillow at him.

  “Come on, let’s sit down on the bed and tell me what’s wrong. I’m here to help you.”

  Lindsay started pulling on her own hair and continued screaming. Then she kicked the desk with her fuzzy slipper.

  Susan walked in. “Lindsay, remember me? Susan Wiles?”

  Lindsay took a few deep breaths. Susan could tell she was beginning to calm down.

  “That’s it, Lindsay. Come sit down with me and Detective Simpson.” Lindsay stopped kicking and let go of her hair. She followed Susan to the bed.

  “That bastard. He was using me. I hate men. You know, don’t you?”