Lizzie looked crushed, and her pale blue eyes turned watery as she ducked her head and stared at her yarn. “Oh, my . . .”
Kelly, however, couldn’t ignore the word that had dropped out of Sheila’s mouth. “You had an ‘informant’ in the retirement home? How did you manage that?”
Sheila drained the mug of hot chocolate. Mimi motioned to pour more, but Sheila waved her away. “I went to the home and started discreetly asking questions of the staff. I made friends with one of them, and she kept an eye on Claudia for me. That’s how I learned she’d suddenly disappeared. Claudia gave notice one afternoon that she’d be moving out, and the next morning she was gone.”
Sheila ran her fingers over the edge of a pink crocheted baby blanket that lay on the knitting table. “Apparently Mary Ann’s family didn’t even discover the missing car for a couple of weeks after her death. And they didn’t learn about the stolen credit card until the credit company’s bill came in the mail.” She stroked the pink yarn. “Imagine their shock at seeing credit charges on their dead mother’s account. Of course, when I heard about the missing car, I put two and two together and came up with Claudia. She already knew that I was checking into her past and had found out about her previous husbands’ deaths. I’m sure that’s why she ran off.”
Lisa exchanged a glance with Kelly. “Wow, you’re one heck of an investigator, Sheila. How did you track Claudia to Colorado? Gas receipts?”
Sheila continued to fondle the baby blanket. Kelly noticed Mimi observing Sheila’s motions with great interest. Seductively soft fibers could tempt even the thorniest person.
“The gas receipts showed she was driving west, but it was the phone bill that gave her away. When it came in, there was a collect call from Fort Connor, Colorado, to Mary Ann Howard the day before she died. I figured that had to be Claudia.”
Lizzie’s head bobbed up again, and she looked absolutely petrified. “Do the Florida police think Claudia stole the car?”
Sheila frowned as she reached both hands into the baby blanket this time, slowly stroking the fibers. “They should be contacting the Fort Connor police any day now, I’m sure of it. I mean, I called them four days ago when I tracked Claudia to that seedy little motel near the interstate. I told the Sarasota detective that I’d located Claudia and the car in Fort Connor, Colorado, and gave him the exact address where to find her. All the Florida police have to do is start the process. They said the stolen car report would be entered into a national computer database with the car’s VIN number and description.” A self-satisfied smile appeared.
Kelly had to hand it to Sheila. Sheila’s sleuthing efforts matched her own. Her previous sleuthing efforts, that is. Last winter, Kelly promised all her friends she would put her investigatory instincts on hold, and she had. Kelly hadn’t done any snooping around for months. Nine months, to be exact. But who was counting?
“What will happen to Claudia?” Megan asked in a quiet voice as she knitted. “Stealing a car is a serious crime.”
“A felony,” Sheila supplied helpfully. “It was a 1999 Taurus and was definitely worth over five hundred dollars.”
“You said the Florida police haven’t charged her yet. Why do you think they’re waiting?” Kelly probed.
Sheila hunched her shoulders and frowned. “I don’t know. I check with them every morning. I’m sure it will be any day now. That’s why I’m keeping track of her. I don’t want Claudia slipping away again.”
Mimi shot Kelly an anxious look. Sheila was calling the Sarasota police every morning? Kelly was about to zero in on that admission when Sheila suddenly pushed the soft blanket away and rose from the table.
“I have to go back to my hotel. I’ve got tons of computer work waiting for me. Here’s my card with my cell phone number. Please call me if you learn anything, anything at all.” Sheila pulled several business cards from her pocket and dropped them on the table.
“Why don’t you drop by again tomorrow, Sheila? I’ve got a class in crochet that’s working on those very same blankets,” Mimi said with a big smile. “I think you’d enjoy it.”
Sheila turned in the archway and glanced back at the blanket, then to Mimi. “Maybe I will. My mother used to crochet.” Then she was gone.
Kelly wondered at Sheila’s abrupt departure, but couldn’t voice it because Hilda’s booming contralto filled the silence as she steamed through the room on the way to the door. “It’s time for us to leave, Lizzie. Good afternoon, ladies.”
Lizzie stuffed her knitting into her bag and meekly followed after her elder—and righteous—sister without a word.
“Whoa,” Jennifer said softly when the spinster sisters had left. “I wouldn’t want to be Lizzie tonight. Hilda will be haranguing her for hours, I’ll bet.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“For sure.”
“Poor Lizzie.”
“Poor Lizzie, hell. Poor Claudia.”
Kelly caught Mimi’s worried gaze. “Mimi, would you and Burt like to join me for breakfast tomorrow morning? I’d like to ask him some questions.”
Mimi nodded. “I’m sure Burt would be glad to join us for breakfast, Kelly. Meanwhile, I’m not going to wait. I’ll start asking him questions tonight.”
Six
Kelly lifted a forkful of cheesy scrambled eggs and devoured it, followed by a bite of crispy bacon and a homemade biscuit. She voiced her enjoyment with a loud “yum.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t come over for breakfast every day, Pete,” she said to the café owner as he refilled her mug. “I’d weigh a ton.”
“One little breakfast every now and then won’t hurt you, Kelly,” Pete said with his genial smile as he filled Burt’s cup as well. Mimi waved Pete off with a smile.
Kelly glanced at Burt. “So, did Mimi fill you in on yesterday’s shop melodrama? She said she was going to grill you last night.”
Burt chuckled. “She sure did. I have to admit, that is one weird story Sheila told. I’ve only seen Claudia occasionally around the shop, so I don’t know her. But I respect your opinions. Both of you are good judges of character. What do you think?”
Mimi toyed with her empty cup. “I don’t know, Burt. I’ve spoken with Claudia several times at the shop, and she seems to be a genuinely open and friendly person. A little flighty and flirtatious from what I’ve heard about her dating activity, but good-natured and kind. I cannot imagine her doing all those terrible things Sheila accuses her of. And yet, Sheila’s account of Claudia’s actions are . . . well, they make me wonder.”
Kelly took a deep drink of Eduardo’s black nectar before answering. She caught the grill cook’s glance and held her mug high in salute. Eduardo grinned behind the grill, flashing a gold front tooth.
“I’m with you, Mimi. I don’t know what to believe. I can’t agree with Sheila’s conclusion that Claudia murdered her two previous husbands or Sheila’s father. But she does paint a damning picture of Claudia’s activities at the Sarasota retirement home. That leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Since the elderly woman is no longer alive, she cannot corroborate Claudia’s version of the story. Did she lend Claudia the car and the credit card? Or did Claudia steal them?”
“That’s the issue,” Burt said, swirling his coffee. “It’ll come down to Claudia’s word against the family’s.”
“What would happen then?” Mimi asked.
“The police would go with the family’s version of events. After all, they know their mother. If she didn’t tell them about lending the car, they’ll make a reasonable assumption that Claudia stole it. And the card. After all, she’s been located in a state two thousand miles away in possession of a car and a credit card that belong to someone else.” Burt gave a sigh. “She looks guilty as hell.”
Mimi bit her lip. “I’m afraid you’re right. What if she’s innocent? How would Claudia prove it?”
Burt shrugged. “I don’t know, Mimi. She may not be able to prove it. And if she can’t, she’ll be charged with auto theft and th
eft of an electronic device. That’s the credit card.”
“Oh, my, oh, my, oh, my . . . I feel so sorry for her,” Mimi murmured as she rose from the table. “I have to get back. Holiday hours, you know.” She hurried off.
Kelly mulled over what Burt said. “What would happen if the Florida police charged Claudia with stealing the car? Would she be arrested here? Sheila mentioned the report would be placed on some national database.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what happens. Once Florida officially charges Claudia with auto theft and files a warrant, then the Fort Connor police can locate the car and arrest her.”
“Would she be jailed?”
“It all depends. After she was arrested, she’d be taken to the jail to be booked. If a judge is in court, then there’d be a hearing. That’s when the judge would state the charges and set bond. For most out-of-state warrants, the bond would be ten thousand dollars. If she can’t post bond, she’ll go to jail.”
Kelly pictured the flirtatious Claudia standing before a judge. If the sight of her stepdaughter Sheila scared Claudia, what would happen in front of a judge?
“Whoa, that sounds pretty scary to me, Burt. I’m wondering if Claudia has enough money to post bond. Apparently she has insurance policies from her previous two husbands, but thanks to Sheila, Claudia got nothing from her last husband.”
“Mimi mentioned that. I gotta tell you, Kelly, that story makes Claudia out to be one desperate woman.”
“Yeah, it does. But when you hear Sheila tell it, you also pick up her intensity loud and clear.” Kelly wagged her head. “Listening to her talk about spending months investigating Claudia’s past, tracking her from Florida, I swear that reminds me of when I used to go searching for clues.”
Burt smiled. “Well, at least you didn’t track anyone state to state.”
“Did Mimi tell you that Sheila said she calls the Sarasota police every day to see if Claudia’s been charged?”
“You’re kidding.” Burt’s bushy gray eyebrows shot up.
“Nope, I’m not. She said so yesterday. I mean, Sheila’s not even involved in that case. It’s not her family, and Mary Ann wasn’t her mother. Sheila’s got spies or informants at the retirement home. I don’t know, Burt. . . .”
“You know, that makes me curious.” Burt stared off into the busy café. Pete and staff bustled about serving platters of breakfast.
“Curious enough to check with the Sarasota cops?” Kelly tempted with a conspiratorial grin.
“I have some old friends from the force who retired to Florida a few years ago. I could give them a call.”
Kelly stared out the café window at the Rockies in the distance. Snow-capped and sparkling in the early morning sun. But nary a flake in Fort Connor. Milder temps—fifties, sixties, and sometimes seventies—still held sway. At least Steve no longer complained about needing his winter scarf.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Look who walked in,” Burt said.
Kelly glanced up and noticed Claudia standing beside the café’s front door. Scanning the room with an anxious look, Claudia spotted Kelly and Burt and headed straight for them.
“May I sit with you two?” she asked, already pulling out a chair. “I don’t want to be alone in case that dreadful woman shows up. I saw her outside in the motel parking lot this morning, sitting in her car watching me.”
Burt and Kelly exchanged glances. Since the Merry Widow was right there in front of them, it only made sense to ask a few questions. Kelly started off, confident Burt would pick up her lead. “That must have been very upsetting for you.”
Claudia dropped her gaze to her lap and withdrew her magenta shawl, nearly finished. “I’ve gone way past upset, Kelly. I’m scared now. Sheila has been spreading lies about me ever since Nathan died. She blamed me for his death. As if I could stand there and deliberately kill Nathan. It’s . . . it’s beyond belief.”
“When you say ‘spreading lies,’ exactly what do you mean, Claudia?” Burt asked in a quiet voice. Kelly recognized his gentle questioning style.
Claudia looked at both of them. “It started right after Nathan’s death. She whispered awful things to his friends at the funeral. I overheard them. Blaming me for his death.” She returned her attention to the wool. “It was clear to me from the start that Sheila resented me. I tried countless times over the two years Nathan and I were married to reach out to her, but she always rebuffed me. Unfortunately, things got worse after his death. When she left town I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that a long trip away might help her sort through her feelings. I assumed she was away on business, but not so. I soon learned she’d been to Missouri and Texas, where I’d lived previously, and had been interrogating anyone who knew me or my former husbands. I was shocked when she showed up at the house, making all these wild accusations.”
“What sort of accusations?” Burt continued.
Claudia released a sigh. “Sheila was convinced that both Fred’s and Frank’s deaths were not accidents but murder. She kept waving a folder. ‘Evidence,’ she called it. Evidence that proved my guilt.” She shook her head. “I was stunned. Shocked speechless. I just stood there and stared while she vilified me, then she stalked out.”
Kelly watched Claudia’s eyes grow moist. “Did she make these accusations to anyone else?”
Claudia nodded. “Ohhhh, yes. To anyone who would listen. She tried to get the local newspaper to instigate an investigation into her ‘charges,’ as she called them. Of course, the newspaper refused to print her accusations. But she did convince a sleazy gossip rag to print an interview with her where she said all those terrible things.” A tear trickled down her cheek.
Kelly reached out and patted Claudia’s arm. “I’m sorry, Claudia. That must have been truly awful.”
“Awful doesn’t begin to describe it. Sheila kept appearing everywhere I went. I had to stop going to the senior center during the daytime because she would show up. I was practically a prisoner in the house.”
“It sounds like you didn’t receive a dime after your husband’s death.” Kelly started a new line of questions. “That doesn’t sound right. After all, you had rights as his widow.”
Claudia gave a wry smile. “I may have had rights, but I had no money to hire an attorney. I was trying to live on what money remained in the checking account. I was still staying in our house, waiting for the estate to be settled. Then, after six months, I came home from errands one day and found Sheila standing there, a legal document in her hand. She had inherited everything, and I was left with nothing. Sheila announced she was taking over the house and told me to gather my things, leave, and never come back. She was changing the locks. I . . . I was dumbfounded. I just stood there at first, staring at her. Then I ran upstairs and threw what things I could into a suitcase and left. I was so devastated I didn’t even realize I’d left most of my clothes and belongings behind until later.”
“That’s pretty harsh,” Kelly said. “What did you do then?”
“I didn’t know where to go at first. Fortunately the minister at a nearby church recommended a state-subsidized retirement home. Thank goodness, my little income covered the monthly bills.”
“I’m surprised someone didn’t suggest a lawyer who took pro bono cases. You know, free legal help.”
Claudia shrugged. “After all those accusations of hers, I felt so beaten down, I didn’t have the heart to pursue anything. To tell the truth, I was so demoralized and humiliated, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. I didn’t have the energy to pursue another settlement, so . . . I just let Sheila have her way. Meanwhile, I tried to start my life over again. Fortunately, I made some friends at the retirement residence.”
Kelly heard an opening and followed it. “Is that where you met this other woman, this Mary Ann Howard?”
“Yes, Mary Ann had been at the residence for five years. She was a lovely woman,” Claudia said, her fingers deftly working the deep violet stitches. “Mary Ann was in poor health, and her vision was
failing so she had great difficulty reading. Reading had been her great joy. She loved novels. Mystery novels, adventure novels, fantasy, science fiction, everything. I felt sorry for her and started visiting every afternoon to read to her. Oh, how she loved that. We became close friends. I could talk to Mary Ann.” Claudia sighed. “Mary Ann was the only one I could talk to about Nathan’s death and Sheila’s harassment. Most of my other friends had dropped me like a hot rock once Sheila began spreading her lies.”
“What about your daughter? Did she help you at all? Could you live with her?” Kelly asked.
Claudia rolled her eyes. “I’m afraid my poor Krista cannot be counted on. She’s in another state and has her hands full with three small children. Plus, her husband is not very supportive. She’s unable to help me. It’s all she can do to help herself.”
Burt signaled a nearby waitress for coffee refills and offered a mug to Claudia. He clasped his bear-paw hands together on the table and leaned forward. “Claudia, I’ve heard about Sheila Miller’s version of how you came to Fort Connor with someone else’s car and credit card. I have to admit, it doesn’t sound good.” Claudia’s head came up at that. “Why don’t you tell me your version of that complicated story, okay?”
Kelly sensed Claudia’s hesitation and placed her hand on Claudia’s arm. “You can trust Burt. He was a former detective with the Fort Connor police.”
The change in Claudia’s expression was immediate. Apprehension vanished, and her pretty face spread with a dazzling smile. “Really? Oh, my goodness, yes. It’ll be a relief to tell someone in authority.”
“Well, I’m not in authority anymore,” Burt said with his good-natured smile. “But I can listen and give advice.”
Prime Crime Holiday Bundle Page 39
