Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 03 - Valentined

by Patricia Rockwell

  “No, thank you, Detective,” replied Essie. “My life is exciting enough.”

  Chapter Thirty

  “Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself.”

  —Jean Anouilh

  Valentine’s Day was a distant memory. All of the fancy decorations had been removed. In fact, the staff had actually started to hang shamrocks in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day. Most of the residents had forgotten all of the excitement of Dr. Love’s speech and the media coverage of their little assisted living facility. A few had even forgotten the shock of having Violet Hendrickson, the Happy Haven director, arrested and accused of dealing illegal drugs.

  Even so, there were quite a few residents and staff members gathered in the lobby that morning for a ceremony that also drew some local media—although not quite as much attention as the aforementioned Dr. Love. One lone reporter with a camera stood in the lobby by the fireplace awaiting the opportunity to snap a candid shot. Essie’s family—Pru, Kurt, and Claudia—and their spouses and children all stood together to one side, obviously amazed and proud of their mother and grandmother. Mindy, who had had a small part in Essie’s recent adventure, was visibly the most proud. Indeed, before the ceremony, Essie had shown Mindy the fake valentine she had made that had lured Violet into confessing. Abbott had returned the card to Essie for her scrapbook—minus the ink-filled heart.

  Detective Abbott stood in the center of the room, attired in his finest dress uniform. Chavez and Magee stood nearby, also neatly uniformed. Essie stood behind her walker, next to Abbott.

  “Miss Cobb,” said Abbott, in a deep baritone voice, “the Reardon Police Department wishes to present you with this official letter of commendation for your assistance in the identification and capture of Violet Hendrickson, alias Viola Dunlap, alias Viviane Dugan, on charges of illegal drug dealing.” Abbott held up a certificate framed in a gold case. He held it out towards Essie and she placed her hands on the frame. The reporter lifted his camera and snapped away. Essie and Abbott smiled and froze their poses.

  Abbott continued speaking to the gathered crowd, “The Reardon Police Department wishes you, the residents of Happy Haven, to know how much we admire and appreciate the efforts of Miss Cobb. Although we don’t condone Miss Cobb’s singular heroics and daring, we do certainly appreciate her efforts, which we all consider above and beyond the call of duty.”

  The small group of staff and residents applauded.

  “In truth,” continued Abbott, speaking now more informally, “we don’t quite know what to make of Essie Cobb. It’s not every day that a ninety-year-old woman foils a huge drug ring like this one all alone.”

  “Oh, but Detective,” interjected Essie, “I had a lot of help from my friends Marjorie, Opal, and Fay!” She smiled and pointed to her pals sitting attentively all together on the sofa near the fireplace. The three women all turned and waved at the crowd, particularly the photographer. “And, of course, Betsy Rollingford helped too. She got a secret admirer card last year. If it weren’t for Betsy I never would have realized that Violet was using all of the residents to bring drugs into Happy Haven.” Essie waved at Betsy who was sitting in the middle of the lobby. Betsy rose and took a tiny bow much to the delight of all the residents.

  “Yes, of course,” said Abbott. “You obviously had a lot of help, Miss Essie. But, still it was your plan. And it’s hard to believe that a lady of your…uh…experience…could accomplish such a feat!”

  “It’s not hard for us to believe,” said Dave Esperti, standing in the rear. “We’ve all known Essie was a pistol for a long time!” The group laughed.

  “A pistol she is,” agreed Abbott, turning to Chavez and Magee and smiling at them. The two officers returned the glance. “Anyway, for the record, the suspect who Essie helped us arrest pleaded guilty in circuit court yesterday. We have her confession and the DA has arranged a plea deal with Miss Hendrickson in exchange for her testimony on the larger national drug ring of which she was a part. We are happy to say that because of this, the Boston Police have been able to put a crime syndicate out of business.”

  “All because of Essie!” declared a man near the back. Essie thought it was the man who’d harassed her in arts and crafts class.

  “Yes, because of Essie,” agreed Abbott. “It’s true and it’s sad that this arrest takes away Happy Haven’s director.”

  “It’s not sad to me!” declared Essie, stomping her foot. The crowd roared.

  “But, I’m sure Happy Haven will be able to replace Miss Hendrickson with a fine new director quite soon.”

  “Make sure they do a better background check,” yelled out a resident from the back.

  “In the meantime,” continued Abbott, “know that the Reardon Police Department will be here for you if you need us! I believe I can safely speak for my fellow officers when I say that this facility will always hold a special place in our hearts.” He glanced over at Magee and Chavez who were beaming. Chavez rubbed a tear from her eye with the sleeve of her uniform jacket.

  Essie looked around. She didn’t see Santos or Grace Bloom, so she figured they were both busy feeding puppies. Phyllis stood at the front desk in her usual spot. Essie wondered how she would fare without Violet Hendrickson; Phyllis had always seemed so attached to Violet. But as she looked at Phyllis, the desk clerk was smiling warmly at Essie. Maybe the transition to a new director of Happy Haven wouldn’t be as hard as she imagined.

  Eventually, Detective Abbott finished his glowing comments about Essie and the commendation ceremony ended with the group slowly migrating to the dining hall where cookies and punch were served to all. Essie’s children remained in the lobby to meet the three policemen and to hear them describe personally how they’d first met Essie and how her concern over the white powder in her secret admirer valentine eventually led to solving this major crime. All three of the police officers appeared to be enjoying talking about Essie and her exploits. Essie’s children seemed a bit overwhelmed that Essie had done what she had done all by herself. There was a lot of polite smiling, but Essie knew that eventually she was probably going to be lectured by one or more of her children about taking unnecessary risks.

  One person who wouldn’t lecture her was her granddaughter Mindy. As her children and grandchildren stood around talking to the three police officers, Essie drew Mindy aside. She wanted to get this young woman’s take on the recent events.

  “Grandma!” declared Mindy, giving Essie a warm hug, “you are my hero! Not only do you catch a criminal, but you do it by using your very clever art skills!”

  “I just used what stuff I had on hand,” said Essie, downplaying her efforts. She knew quite honestly that a thorough investigation of her fake valentine would quickly indicate that it came nowhere near the quality of the one sent by her secret admirer in Boston.

  “Even so,” said Mindy. “I bet none of my friends’ grandmas could ever do anything like this!”

  “Well, you taught me about the artistic features of the card, Mindy,” said Essie. She felt a deep empathy for this young woman who always seemed so shy and socially awkward.

  “I’m glad I could help you, Grandma,” replied Mindy. “If you ever need help on any of your adventures, you can always ask me!”

  “I will keep that in mind, my dear,” replied Essie. “Now, how about some punch and cookies?” Mindy smiled and the two women headed for the dining hall, along with the crowd of well-wishers.

  As Essie stood in the dining hall, nibbling cookies and sipping punch, surrounded by her friends and family, she felt a tap on her elbow.

  “Essie,” said Hubert Darby softly. “I just wanted you to know how much I admire you.” He blushed and rocked back and forth on his squeaky shoes.

  “Thank you, Hubert,” replied Essie. “Truth be told, I liked your valentine the best.”

  Hubert’s face turned red and he gasped for breath, pulling and twisting his suspenders nervously. Then, suddenly, he bent over and planted a kiss on Essie’s cheek. Es
sie froze and smiled. Everyone gathered in the dining hall turned and looked at the large, befuddled man who was smooching the guest of honor.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day, Miss Essie!” said Hubert. Essie, for maybe the first time in her life, was speechless. Everyone cheered and Hubert and Essie smiled warmly at each other.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Patricia Rockwell is the author of two cozy mystery series. VALENTINED is the third in her Essie Cobb senior sleuth mysteries. The first, BINGOED, introduced Essie and her gang of amateur detective friends who live in the Happy Haven Assisted Living Facility. The group attempt to find out what has caused a fellow resident to collapse and fall into a coma after he wins a dollar playing Bingo. Their efforts are rewarded with a series of merry adventures, just as in PAPOOSED concerns a story of an abandoned infant and how Essie and her pals babysit the child while they track down his mother.

  Rockwell also writes the Pamela Barnes acoustic mystery series, which follows the psychologist and acoustics expert as she assists local police in solving various crimes with sound clues. In the first of these, SOUNDS OF MURDER, Pamela discovers an accidentally-made audio recording of a strangling death and uses her knowledge of sound to determine the identity of the killer. The second book, FM FOR MURDER, presents Pamela with an intriguing case. A local disc jockey is shot to death on-air. No one sees the killer but many listeners hear the crime unfold. Pamela uses the radio station’s recording to help the police track down the wily murderer. In the third of the series, VOICE MAIL MURDER, Pamela helps in an investigation of the local university football coach’s murder. The man is found stabbed to death in a seedy motel. The only clue is his cell phone which contains voice mail messages from three unknown women. Pamela uses her knowledge of the sound of the human voice to help the police solve this mysterious case.

  All of Rockwell’s books are available in both paperback and e-book format on Amazon and other sites. You can read more about this author and her work on the publisher’s website: www.cozycatpress.com.