by J A Whiting
“Was he?” Vanessa’s eyes narrowed. “What did the man look like?”
Claire reported on the man’s appearance and how he seemed to deliberately avoid telling her his name.
“I wonder what that was about,” Vanessa thought out loud.
“I took a picture of them.” Claire reached for her phone and pulled up the photograph. “Here it is. It’s a little grainy.”
Vanessa peered at the picture and handed the phone back to Claire. “I don’t know him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”
Nicole wanted to bring Maddy into the conversation. “What are you thinking about the accident?”
Maddy shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to think. I don’t think it was an accident though.”
“Can you tell us what happened when you arrived home from the Opera House?” Claire asked trying to get the young woman talking.
Maddy blinked fast several times. “I walked up to the house. It was dark. I was going up to the front porch and I saw the door was open. I looked to both sides of the porch thinking maybe Mom or Dad came outside for something for a minute. No one was around. I got a little nervous. I stood at the door and pushed it all the way open and called for my parents. I found Dad in his office and asked what was wrong. He looked kind of … his eyes were wild, they were big and darting around. Dad was pacing fast, up and down in front of his desk. He had his phone in his hand and Mom’s raincoat over his arm. He had some blood on the side of his face. I asked him again what was wrong … he just glanced at me, kept pacing. He kept checking his phone like he was waiting for a call.” Tears started in Maddy’s eyes. “I started to panic. He was acting so weird. I grabbed his arm. I think I screamed at him to tell me what was wrong.” She looked down and shook her head. “He pulled his arm away and kept pacing. I ran out of the room calling for Mom. I ran through the downstairs rooms looking for her and then I ran upstairs to the bedrooms. I couldn’t find her.” Maddy’s voice hitched with emotion and Vanessa put her arm over her sister’s shoulders.
Maddy took in a raspy breath. “I didn’t know what to do. I raced up the stairs to the third floor. Mom never goes up there, but I didn’t know what else to do. I had to find her. Dad was acting so strange, it scared me.”
“What happened when you went to the third floor?” Nicole asked.
“When I was going through the rooms, I felt cool air so I ran to the bedroom thinking Mom must be in there. She must have opened the window. I felt a rush of relief that she was in there.” Maddy bit her lip. “When I went in the room, no one was there. The window. There was some glass on the floor. The window screen was missing. I walked over and looked out.” The young woman’s hand flew to cover her eyes and she whispered. “Mom. Mom was on the ground.”
Claire’s heart ached from Maddy’s grief and misery and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her own tears from falling.
After giving the girl a few minutes to collect herself, Nicole asked, “Then you went outside?”
“Uh-huh. I ran down the stairs and out the front door to the side of the house. Mom was crumpled on the ground. She had blood…. I grabbed her hand and talked to her. She didn’t open her eyes, but I could hear her breathing. It was sort of raggedy, but she was breathing. I reached for my shoulder bag to get my phone and I realized I left it inside, but then I heard the sirens. Dad must have called them. I thought they’d never get here.”
“You stayed with your mother until the emergency personnel showed up?” Claire asked.
Maddy gave a nod.
“Did your father come out?”
“I don’t think so. Not right away anyway. Lorraine was here. She helped me. She kept talking to Mom.”
“Did your mother respond or open her eyes?” Claire questioned.
“She moaned a little, but that was all.” Maddy swallowed. “I remember Dad did come out when Lorraine was with me. He put the raincoat over Mom. He and Lorraine said some things to each other. I wasn’t paying attention. Then the EMT’s showed up.”
“Did your father talk to your mother? Did he say anything to her?” Nicole asked.
“No, he didn’t. He didn’t kneel down or anything.” Maddy looked from person to person and her voice hardened. “Why didn’t he?”
Vanessa squeezed her sister’s hand and gave a shrug.
“Was anyone else here in the house that night?” Claire asked.
Maddy shook her head. “Just Dad. Vanessa was on the way to New York. No one else lives here.”
“What about a family friend? A household helper?”
Maddy thought for a moment staring blankly at the table. “No.”
“Did you see any signs of a struggle?”
Maddy lifted her head and made eye contact with Claire. “A struggle? No.” The young woman’s forehead creased. “Wait. There was a brush on the floor in my parents’ room, and a book, too.” Her eyes got wide. “The chair at the vanity wasn’t in its place.”
Vanessa’s eyes locked on her sister.
Claire’s heart raced. Could those things be a sign of a fight? “What do you mean about the chair?”
“My mom always pushes the chair in when she’s done at the vanity.” Maddy cocked her head. “The chair was next to the wall near the bed. She never puts it there.”
Thoughts swirled in Claire’s brain. Did someone rush around trying to right things that were tipped over from a struggle? Is that why Dr. Dodd wasn’t outside with his wife? Is that the reason Maddy found him in his office pacing around?
“Think back.” Claire leaned forward. “Did anything else seem off in the house?”
“I don’t think so,” Maddy said slowly.
“Tell them what you saw in the third floor bedroom,” Vanessa suggested.
“When I was about to go into the bedroom, there was something on the woodwork. It looked like part of a handprint, in blood.”
Anxiety flashed through Claire’s body. “Blood was on the woodwork? On the door casing?”
Maddy nodded and lifted her hand. “The print is of these three fingers.” She folded down her thumb and pinky leaving the index, middle, and ring fingers standing up. “The mark looks sort of smeared like someone’s hand was moving when it touched the wood.”
Vanessa got up from her seat. “It’s still there. We’ll take you up to the third floor before Dad gets home. You can see the mark on the woodwork and the window Mom fell from.”
The four climbed the stairs to the third floor and walked down a hallway.
“Here’s the room.” Vanessa pointed. “The police have been all over the place a million times so it doesn’t matter if you touch anything. Here’s the spot on the woodwork.” She indicated a dark, small, dried bloody smear about half-way up the door frame.
Claire and Nicole leaned forward to get a better look.
“This definitely wasn’t here before the night of the accident?” Claire asked.
“Well, I don’t know, for sure.” Vanessa stared at the spot. “We never come up here. I suppose it could have been. Do you think the police would be able to date it?”
“I have no idea.” Claire straightened. “Can you tell whose print it is? From the size?”
“I initially thought it was Mom’s, but because of the smearing, I can’t be sure. Maddy and I talked about it and we just don’t know.” Vanessa looked around for her sister and saw her standing by the window looking out. The glass had already been replaced.
“The window’s been fixed?” Nicole asked.
“Dad didn’t waste any time.” Vanessa’s voice held a tone of contempt. She walked across the room. “Maddy?”
Maddy didn’t turn, she just kept staring out.
Vanessa looked from Claire to Nicole and then stepped close to her sister and put her hand on the girl’s arm. “Why don’t you come away from the window.”
Claire expected to see tears on the young woman’s cheeks when she shifted her position to face her sister, but Maddy’
s face was dry.
“You know … I remember something,” Maddy spoke slowly. “I think someone was in the yard. I think the person went into the trees. Whoever it was must have seen Mom fall.”
7
“What do you mean? Someone was in the yard?” Vanessa asked with a tone of urgency.
“I think so.” Maddy ran her hand over her hair. “The window was broken, there was some glass on the floor. I remember how it crunched when I walked over it. My heart was pounding. I was afraid to look, but I kind of inched to the window and looked down. I saw Mom. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was a person or not. Something moved, over there.” Maddy pointed to the side yard toward the back and left of the house. “I think someone was standing there and then they moved into the trees.”
“Are you sure someone was there?” Vanessa asked.
“No,” Maddy said weakly. “But I saw movement and then whatever it was that moved was gone.”
“Could it have been the wind moving some branches?” Claire peered out the window.
“I don’t think so. The movement was close to the ground. Like feet moving. It seemed like a shadow, but then it didn’t.” Maddy placed her hand on the side of her face.
Vanessa checked her watch. “I think we should go downstairs. Dad will be home soon and I don’t want him to find us up here.”
As soon as the young women descended the stairs and headed for the kitchen, Dr. Dodd came in from the garage. His head snapped up when he heard the four voices and he looked wide-eyed from girl to girl.
“Hello, Dad.” There was no warmth in Vanessa’s voice as she pulled herself up to full height. “You remember Nicole. And this is Claire, a friend of Nicole’s.”
Dr. Dodd nodded to the guests. His face seemed tense and his body language appeared stiff and uncomfortable.
“I met you at the Common today,” Claire reminded the man.
“Yes.” Dr. Dodd shifted his eyes around the room like he was looking for an escape route. “I’m going to my office,” he said before scurrying out of the room.
“This is the odd behavior I told you about.” Vanessa kept her voice low in case her father came back into the room. “It isn’t actually what he says, it’s the whole thing. He acts nervous, withdrawn, he doesn’t want to spend time around people. He just wants to be alone. Whenever he’s at home, he barricades himself in his office.”
“You’ve tried to talk to him?” Nicole asked.
“I go in the office and try to get him to talk,” Vanessa said.
Maddy crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t try to talk to him.”
Vanessa went on. “When I go in to talk to him, he acts so busy like he’s working feverishly. I ask him something and he looks at me blankly like I’m speaking a foreign language. If he answers, he answers evasively. He often contradicts himself. Like I told you, he said he was in bed on the second floor when Mom fell and another time he told me he was in the kitchen.”
“Isn’t that a sign of trauma?” Claire asked. “Like his mind isn’t working right because of what he’s been through?”
“It can be a sign of stress.” Vanessa’s frowned. “He can’t keep his story straight. He asks us to lie for him. He asked me to pretend to be someone else so I couldn’t be served a summons.”
“What was he like before the accident happened?” Nicole asked.
Vanessa suddenly looked exhausted. “He was pleasant, he tried to be friendly. There was always a little uneasiness when we were all together … because of the affair, but we managed okay. Maddy and I held resentment towards him for what he’d done to Mom … but we tried to keep it in check.”
Claire asked, “Did your father ever explain why he had blood and scratches on his face?”
“When I first asked him, he wouldn’t answer,” Vanessa said. “When I asked the same question on another day, he said he and Mom had an argument that night. He said she struck him.”
“What were they arguing about?” Nicole questioned. “Did he tell you?”
“He was evasive … his newest quality,” Vanessa said sarcastically. “He mumbled that their arguing wasn’t anything new. When I pressed for more details, he clammed up.” She glanced down the hall. “I want us all to go into his office and talk to him. See if we can get anything new from him.”
Nicole’s face screwed up. “Do you think that’s a good idea? If he won’t talk to you, he sure won’t talk to us.”
“Maddy and I talked about it.” Vanessa turned to her sister. “We think she should stay out of it. The three of us will go in and start a conversation.”
“That will seem weird.” The corners of Nicole’s lips pulled down. “If the three of us go in there asking questions, he’ll think it’s some kind of inquisition. He’ll never talk.”
Claire spoke up. “What if we make some tea or bring in some wine? We could bring in cookies or whatever. You can say that we don’t want him to be alone, we could chat and see where it leads.”
Vanessa’s face brightened. “Perfect.” She and Maddy scurried around the kitchen getting out a tray, wine glasses, a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers.
Vanessa, Claire, and Nicole carried the items to the office where Vanessa knocked and opened the door. “We thought you might like a glass of wine.”
Dr. Dodd sat behind his desk and a look of horror washed over his face. “No, thank you. I’m very busy.”
Claire and Nicole took a seat on the small sofa near the desk. Vanessa poured the wine and passed around glasses ignoring her father’s protestations. “We’ll only stay for a little while.”
“It was a beautiful day on the Common today,” Claire smiled.
Dr. Dodd looked at Claire as if he had no idea what she was saying.
“You walked over from the hospital?” Vanessa asked. “Who were you with?”
The man sat silently in his chair.
“Dad. Who did you go to the Common with today?” Vanessa wasn’t about to give up.
“Someone from the hospital,” the doctor said absent-mindedly.
“A doctor?”
Dr. Dodd shook his head. “What? No.”
“How do you know him then?”
“He’s on staff. Where’s Maddy?” The doctor looked over to the door. “She’s been sleeping a lot lately. Is she okay?”
“She’s upset,” Vanessa said through gritted teeth.
“Yes,” Dr. Dodd’s comment seemed to slip quietly into the air.
Nicole offered her condolences and the man made eye contact with her, but said nothing.
Claire said, “It’s a very trying time. It’s hard to think straight at a time like this. My husband passed away from a heart attack two years ago.”
Vanessa looked over at Claire with an expression of surprise.
“It’s still difficult to believe that he’s gone. I spent hours and hours wondering if there was something I could have done that might have prevented his death. Should I have noticed something? Was he not feeling well? Was he fatigued? Did anything at all seem off?” Claire shook her head. “Someone told me it’s natural to second guess our actions after someone we love passes away, to blame ourselves for not being more vigilant.” Claire held the doctor’s eyes. “Vanessa said that Mrs. Dodd hardly ever used the third floor. Do you know why she was up there?”
“I have no idea.” The doctor stood up and scrambled around from behind the desk. As he made his way to the door, Claire stood and extended her hand to him. “I’m very sorry if I said something to upset you.”
Dodd took Claire’s hand for a brief moment and then disappeared out the door. Claire and Nicole exchanged a look.
“Sorry this didn’t work,” Claire said to Vanessa.
“Did your husband really pass away?” Vanessa asked.
Claire gave a nod.
“God, I’m sorry.” Vanessa gave Claire a hug. “Don’t worry that our chat ended so soon. He wouldn’t have told us anything anyway. Let’s get out of here.” Vanessa picked up
the wine bottle and started for the hall. “Just leave the glasses. The housekeeper will be in tomorrow morning.”
Claire and Nicole put the glasses on the tray despite Vanessa’s suggestion to leave them on the desk. Nicole lifted the tray and leaned closer to her friend. “Did you feel anything when you shook the doctor’s hand?”
“Yes,” Claire whispered and took a quick glance to the doorway. “Dr. Dodd has a firm idea why his wife was on the third floor.”
Nicole’s eyes went wide. “You and that intuition of yours are amazing. Were you able to pick up on what he knows about the reason his wife was up there?”
“Guess what.” Claire frowned. “I’m not that amazing.”
8
Claire sat with Augustus at the little table in Tony’s shop. Bear and Lady followed Tony from the front of the deli to the store room in back keeping him company as he did his work. A few days a week, the dogs stayed with Tony at the small market in Adamsburg Square while Claire worked at Nicole’s chocolate shop. There was a small garden off the store room where the dogs liked to spend part of the day.
Sipping her hot tea, Claire told Augustus the latest news in the Grace Dodd case.
Tony came out of the back room carrying a box of cheese and headed to the deli case. “Don’t tell anything when I’m in the back. I can’t hear what you’re saying.”
Claire repeated what she’d just reported to Augustus.
Tony stepped from behind the counter wiping his hands on his white apron. “The man’s behavior is odd. I hope he’s getting some counseling. The way he’s acting could give people the idea he’s guilty.”
“I think he knows more than he’s telling.” In fact, Claire was sure of this after shaking hands with the man last night, but she couldn’t tell Tony and Augustus that she had strong intuition.
“I feel bad for the guy.” Tony sat at the table. “What a heck of a mess.”
Augustus adjusted his bow tie. “It can look bad for the man. He had an affair, perhaps it was ongoing. Vanessa reports that her parents argued about it. Physical violence may have taken place during the arguments. Both probably felt ashamed that their lives were not what they’d hoped they would be. Mrs. Dodd felt betrayed by her husband. Something in the husband compelled him to engage in an affair.”
