Office Heretics (A Coffee & Crime Mystery Book 2)

by Nan Sampson

  "Jesus H. Christ."

  Ellie grinned. "And we've got the key."

  "Please tell me you brought it with you."

  "Whoo-hoo! We did it!!" He pulled her to her feet and danced her around the base of the tree.

  She grinned then slapped him on the shoulder. "Excellent work, Watson. Now let's get this thing to the car and get home. I'm freakin' freezing."

  "My sentiments precisely, Holmes."

  She paused as Charlie packed up their supplies. "What about the hole?"

  "What about it?"

  "It's not right to just leave it like that. This is a sacred space. I feel like we've just desecrated it."

  "Look, it's too cold to do much right now. But I promise, come spring, I'll come back here and make sure it's filled in. If the park district hasn't already beat me to it."

  There really didn't seem to be much choice. As it was, if she tried to fill it in now, it would mostly be snow filling the hole.

  "Okay.” She looked up at the tree, had an idea. “Look, just give me a second then, okay? You can start back to the car if you want. I just need to make amends to Verne."

  "Verne?"

  "The tree. That's his name." She knelt down in front of the old oak, and stripping off her gloves, she put her hands gently on the rough bark. She closed her eyes and tried to reach into the essence of the tree's energy, sending her thanks, her promise to come back and make sure the hole was taken care of, and sending some healing energy to any damage they might have done to the root system as they dug.

  When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find Charlie kneeling beside her, his hands also outstretched and resting on the tree trunk.

  She stood, laid a hand on his shoulder, touched by the gesture. "Thank you."

  He stood, brushed the snow off his jeans. "Sure. Don't know what I was doing, but hey, when in Rome..."

  She looked him up and down, then met those startlingly blue eyes. "You're alright, you know that?"

  He flashed her that signature grin. "To think it's taken you all these years to figure it out. And I thought you were the smart one."

  Her work glove made a nice whacking sound as it hit him in the butt. Then she walked away, leaving him to carry not only the box, but all their supplies.

  Charlie vibrated in the passenger seat all the way back to Naperville. She had this image of him, puppy-dog like, hanging his head out the car window, his long curls flapping in the wind. The thought made her chuckle and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

  "What's so funny?"

  She just shook her head and then was saved from answering as his cell phone rang.

  "Hey, Terry, s'up?" Ellie recognized the name as the cop they had talked to earlier in the week. As Charlie listened, his tone went from jovial to shocked. "You're kidding me. But why?"

  The snow was really falling now forcing Ellie to keep her eyes fixed on the road when what she wanted to do was to watch Charlie's face. What the hell was going on?

  As if reading her thoughts, he held up a hand to her, staving off her questions. "Yeah, okay. Keep me posted, though, okay? I have a hard time believing-- yeah, I know people do funny things but--" He sighed. "Okay. Yeah, thanks for letting me know." He hung up, sat back in his seat, let out a breath. "Wow."

  Ellie wanted to scream. "What? What ‘wow’? What's happened? Is it something with Lacey's case?"

  "Sort of. I mean, not directly related, but it sure is one helluva a coincidence."

  She kept her eyes on the road, her hands gripping the wheel. If it had been safe, she would have reached across and strangled the man. "What?!"

  "Cary O'Malley, that guy who worked for Lacey? He's dead. Barbiturate overdose. Officially, their saying accident, pending the coroner's report, but unofficially, it's looking like a suicide."

  She suddenly remembered the phone call she’d gotten while eating lunch the day before. "Oh my Goddess. I completely forgot. He called yesterday.”

  “When?”

  “It was when I took that break to grab lunch.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because we were a little busy!” She gave him a glare. “He called to tell me Lawson had fired him. And that Lawson had lied to the cops."

  Now it was Charlie's turn to roll his eyes. "What the hell, Gooden?"

  "I'm sorry, I forgot in all the excitement of Lacey's condo getting broken into."

  Charlie scrubbed at his face. When he spoke again, he was calmer. "Well, what had Lawson lied about?"

  "Cary said that Lawson had gone out about the same time that Lacey and Muriel went to the Ladies Room, allegedly to feed the parking meter. But he said Lawson would never have parked on the street."

  "And he told you Lawson had fired him?"

  "Yeah. He sounded pretty depressed about it, worrying about how he was going to pay his bills. He was pretty well trashed too. At the end of the call, it sounded like he dropped the phone. Then I heard snoring. I figured he'd passed out. I meant to call one of his co-workers later to have them go check on him..." But she'd forgotten that too. And then a horrifying thought occurred to her. "When did he die?" She took her eyes off the road for a second, needing to see Charlie's expression. What she saw made her heart sink.

  "Not sure."

  "So maybe he wasn't just drunk when he called but overdosing? Damn. If I'd remembered to tell you, or if I'd remembered to call one of his co-workers, he might still be alive. Oh, dear Goddess."

  Charlie laid a hand on her shoulder. "Ellie, no. He was drunk as a skunk. He'd gone through the better part of two six packs and at least a half a bottle of Diazepam. There's no positive fix on TOD yet, but chances are, even if you'd mentioned his call and I'd called the cops, it's likely no one would have gotten there in time to save him." He gave her arm a squeeze. "It's not your fault, Ellie. Not your fault at all."

  His words didn't help. She felt sick. First she hadn't been there for Lacey and now she'd ignored Cary. And both were dead. If only she'd called one of his co-workers, they might have found him in time.

  The highway ahead of her was a blur of white and she was shaking, despite the fact that she was gripping the wheel for dear life. How could she have let this happen? Was she such a poor friend, such an uncaring person that she was now in the habit of ignoring people who needed her help because it was inconvenient? Or because getting too close to people would mean she would be obligated to reciprocate with all those social niceties that she found so uncomfortable? She shivered, chilled, and for a moment thought maybe it was another of Lacey's visitations. But no, she was just cold to the bone - apparently inside and out. When her teeth started to chatter, she cranked up the heat.

  Charlie laid his hand on hers. "Pull over. I'll drive the rest of the way."

  She pressed her lips together, shook her head.

  "Ellie, this isn't a request. You're in shock and you're in no shape to drive in this weather. You need to pull over and give me the keys."

  Her voice sounded strange, distant, when she responded. "I'm fine."

  "No, you're not. Pull over. Now."

  A little part of her wanted to floor it. The sensible part, the part that pretty much ruled her life however, told her that that was a good way to get them both killed and the Lady knew she didn't want any more blood on her hands. She slowed the vehicle, pulled over to the side of the road and climbed out of the car. As she trudged around to the other side, snow caked her hair, her coat. The sky was dark with heavy clouds, pressing down on her, making her feel small and helpless.

  As Charlie got them back on the road, he tried once again to console her. She turned away from him, huddling against the passenger side door, staring out the side window at the white, wet, snow-covered roadway, ignoring every conversational gambit. After a time, he finally gave up and they drove the rest of the way to the house in silence.

  Chapter 38

  It took them nearly four hours to drive back to town. The snow was falling thick and plow trucks hardly se
emed able to keep up. They changed hurriedly then headed back out again into the mess, arriving at the funeral home at a little before one o'clock. One look at Kate's face and Ellie nearly turned around and left again.

  She followed her friend out of the visitation room and back to a little kitchenette. Kate's hands were clenched, her face white.

  She stood facing the sink for a moment, then sucked in a breath. "How could you?" There was more hurt than anger in her voice.

  "I'm sorry, Kate. Really. But I couldn't wait until tomorrow. And I thought for sure I'd be back on time."

  "Okay, fine, I get that you couldn't wait. You never could wait for anything. But how could you and Charlie go without me? How could you leave me behind? That's what really hurts."

  Ellie looked away. "I'm sorry. I...I just didn't think."

  Kate dropped her head, and Ellie knew she was crying. She went to stand next to her, shoulders not quite touching. "I'm used to doing things alone. By myself and for myself. I was never very good at thinking about other people, and in the last couple of years, I suppose I've only gotten more so. I really am sorry, Kate."

  Kate crossed her arms in front of her, looked up and aside. "But you asked Charlie to go."

  "Ha! Not hardly. He was hiding in the back seat of my car."

  She gave a little laugh and sniffed. "Lord."

  "Really, Kate, I wish you had been there with us. And I'm truly sorry I didn't think to ask. I just thought... well, you'd already said no. And I just couldn't wait until tomorrow."

  "So did you find anything?"

  Ellie grinned. "Indeed we did. She'd buried a safe deposit box under the old oak tree."

  "What was in it?"

  Ellie paused, until Kate looked at her. "Well, we didn't open it. Not without you."

  The smile was faint. "Didn't have the key?"

  "No, really. We wanted to wait until we were all together. We'll do it this afternoon, before the evening visitation."

  Kate took a shuddering breath, then wiped her face. "I've just ruined my make-up. Can you go greet people while I freshen up? You should pay your own respects too. They did a lovely job with Lacey."

  Forcing a smile, Ellie agreed to greet the visitors. No way in hell, however, would she be spending a lot of time up front with the casket. Whatever it was that was in that coffin was no longer her friend.

  She left Kate at the door to the ladies room and went back to the visitation room. It was one of the smaller ones, and other than Dan and Charlie there were only a handful of people there, gathered to one side, chatting. They had that corporate look about them, and Ellie guessed they were work associates.

  Walking over to them she held out her hand to the closest woman and started in on her patter, one which she'd used over and over at her parents’ service. "Hi. I'm Ellie Gooden. It was so good of you to come today."

  The foursome looked up at her and the woman took her outstretched hand limply.

  "Oh, hello. I'm MaryBeth. I worked with Lacey." She gave a little laugh. "Well, we all did." She introduced the rest, while Ellie shook their hands.

  "This is Bob Hulden, Tim Richards, Vance Lundquist. We're all in IT."

  Ellie nodded. "Did you work closely with Lacey?"

  "Well, not really, but we worked on some project teams together. It's so awful, what happened." MaryBeth gave Ellie the once over. "Were you her sister?"

  "Oh, no. We were friends in college. Sort of like sisters in a sense, I guess."

  The woman named MaryBeth smiled. "How nice that the two of you kept up for all these years."

  If only they had. Ellie returned the smile, feeling a stab of guilt. "Well, thank you all for coming. I know Lacey appreciates..." and in her head she finished, 'your insincere sentiments and quite natural desire to leave work early, while her mouth said, "your thoughtfulness in being here today. Please help yourself to refreshments in the kitchen if you haven't done so already."

  "Thank you." MaryBeth reached out a hand and patted Ellie on the arm. "Take care."

  Ellie forced another smile and walked away. She hated these things. Almost everyone who came was so phony. She walked slowly around the room, looking at the displays of flowers, reading the names on the cards, most of which were completely unfamiliar.

  A huge, standing arrangement covered in roses and lilies had 'With our deepest sympathies, The Lawson Family' written on it. Smarmy brown-noser, she thought.

  Another, smaller display had another name she recognized, that of Muriel Theissen. The woman Lawson didn't think could handle Lacey's job. She hoped she get another chance to talk with Muriel, ask her some question about whatever big thing Lacey might have found out. Maybe Muriel was involved too, although she hadn’t struck Ellie as all that bright. At the very least, maybe she might have recalled seeing something as she saw Lacey out the door of the restaurant that night. A topic they hadn’t discussed when she’d picked up Lacey’s stuff the other day.

  Dan and Charlie had taken seats close to the front of the room. Too close to the coffin for Ellie's taste, but she knew eventually she would have to go up there, she might as well get it over. Bypassing the two men, she went to stand in front of the casket, steeled herself then looked in.

  It wasn't as bad as she'd imagined. Lacey really did look pretty good. Not, as they always said, like she was sleeping, but more like she had in life than Ellie would have thought. Still, there was no taut intensity in her features, no fierce control, none of the things that made Lacey look like Lacey.

  A morbid impulse made her want to pull back the collar of her shirt to examine the bruises around her neck, but Ellie managed to resist it. She had a copy of the coroner's report. She’d looked at the photos. There would be nothing new to be gained by looking at the real thing, even if she had the stomach to do it.

  The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she turned, expecting to see Lacey. Instead, the short, plump, mousey-haired Muriel Theissen, dressed in a puffy long red parka that did nothing to hide the woman's own natural padding, had just entered and was staring fixedly at her. Muriel looked distressed, scratching at the back of one hand in a sort of unconscious nervous habit. As Ellie turned around, the woman strode forward quickly, greeting her like an old friend. Ellie didn’t even have time to dodge the hug.

  “Ellie. So good to see you again. How are you holding up?”

  Ellie extricated herself, straightened her dress. “Fine. Thanks. I hope the snow didn’t cause you much delay?”

  The woman rolled her eyes. “Traffic from the city was ridiculous. You’d think people would know how to drive in the snow, but every winter, it’s the same stupidity.” She slipped out of her coat and hung it over her arm. Stepping around Ellie, she gazed down into the casket, sighing. "She looks wonderful, doesn't she?"

  Ellie turned slightly, so she could at least pretend to look at Lacey's body. "They did do a better job than most."

  "I don't think I've ever seen her looking so relaxed."

  "Well, she was a high energy kind of person. I'm not sure Lacey was really good at relaxing."

  Muriel put her hands on the edge of the casket, making Ellie shudder inwardly. "I know I could be good at it if only I could find the time." She gave a little laugh. Then she sighed again and turned to Ellie. "It was so good of you and Kate to arrange all this. You must be devastated." She leveled an unusually long and intense gaze at Ellie, fingering the pearl and diamond necklace Ellie remembered from the night at the bar as though it were some sort of talisman. Her energy changed, and if Ellie hadn't known better, she'd have sworn the woman was doing something witchy and malevolent. Ellie didn't believe in curses, but she knew without a doubt that there was more than enough energy in the universe and far too many people willing to try to use it for their own malicious intent.

  She used her own energy to create a glowing orb of white around herself, felt the negativity fade. “Would you like some coffee or tea? There are refreshments in the kitchen, that way.” She pointed.

 
Muriel completely ignored the gambit. "So have you talked with the police? Do they have a suspect yet?"

  "I don't know anything more than I did yesterday. I believe they still think it was a mugging."

  "It's just awful. The things people do these days." She looked back down at Lacey, and Ellie watched in amazement as the woman actually touched Lacey's hand. "Poor thing."

  "Coffee?"

  With a final pat of Lacey’s hand, Muriel smiled at her. "That would be lovely."

  "It’s just through that door and down the hall. I believe Kate just made a fresh pot."

  “Which way?”

  She started to repeat her directions, then decided it would be easier to show her. Besides, it was an excuse to get away from the casket. She led Muriel into the back, and found the kitchen empty except for Kate.

  "Kate, this is Muriel. The woman Lacey worked with."

  Until Kate brushed some wetness from her cheeks, Ellie hadn't realized she'd been crying. Poor Kate. This was hitting her so hard. Ellie felt guilt not only in not helping Kate shoulder the burden more, but also for not really feeling it as Kate was.

  Kate smiled at Muriel, and put out her hand. "Muriel, yes, we met at drinks that night. It's so good to see you again. Lacey mentioned you often."

  Ellie expected Muriel to smile at this, but a frown crossed the woman's pudgy features. "Really?"

  "She said you were one of the hardest workers in the department. I know she appreciated your drive and dedication."

  "Oh." She seemed surprised. Was she actually going to cry?

  Kate, being Kate, gently touched her arm. "Would you like some coffee?"

  Muriel nodded and Ellie followed Kate to the kitchen counter to give Muriel a moment. As Kate poured a cup of coffee from the large silver urn, Ellie whispered in her ear. "Did Lacey really say that?"

  Kate's mouth quirked up. "What she said was that Muriel was a workaholic who didn't know her mouse from a hole in the ground. I was just paraphrasing a little."