by Anne Canadeo
“Great news.” Lucy looked up from her knitting and smiled.
“Can we go early to see her?” Rose asked. “I won’t talk at all. I just want to be with her.”
“Of course, Rose. We’ll get up early and go first thing.” Dana cast a warm smile in Rose’s direction. “I sent Detective Reyes a text and told her that Holly should be able to answer a few questions tomorrow. Not that I want Holly worn out by the police. But a few words might clear up everything, and this entire nightmare could be over. The police may not even need you to sit for an official interview.”
“I told Detective Reyes everything I could remember the other day, at the shop.”
“I’m sure you did,” Dana said. “Let’s not worry about it right now. It might not even happen.”
Maggie could tell that her strong and capable friend was feeling drained by this ordeal. Had only three days passed since Tuesday, when the greenhouse had gone up in flames? It seemed like three weeks, Maggie reflected.
Rose had answered all the detective’s questions the other day, as best as she was able. Maggie had been there. She knew that was so. But if what Dr. Riley had told Dana was true, Rose’s memory might offer a solid detail or two of the events. Along with whatever Holly would say, the police would finally have a clear lead to follow.
Had the drifter, Carl Thornton, been here Tuesday night? Or was it Toby? Or someone else entirely? Every time Maggie thought she knew the answer, it slipped like smoke back into the shadows. Like a lost memory.
“Did you tell Helen Forbes what you found in the envelope?” Lucy asked.
“Yes, I did. She’s going to call Detective Reyes tonight, even though it’s late.”
Maggie found that reassuring. “I guess we should all get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day.” Maggie smoothed her knitting on her lap and checked the stitches. “In a good way, I mean,” she added quickly.
“Yes, in a good way, I hope, too,” Rose agreed. She got up and stretched. “I’ll sleep on one of the couches in here. Lucy or Maggie can have my room.”
“And there’s the guest room, too,” Dana added.
The sleeping arrangements were quickly sorted out. Maggie was in the guest room, and Lucy took Rose’s room. They all said good night to Rose, and she closed the pocket doors of the parlor. Maggie put her knitting bag on the bench in the foyer and started to follow her friends up the staircase.
“I have half my house here,” Dana said. “I’ll find pj’s and necessities for both of you. And clean clothes for tomorrow.”
Maggie paused on the steps. “I’ll be right up. I forgot something in the kitchen.”
She walked to the back of the house and checked the locks on the back door and also on the windows. The room was dark except for a low light over the stove. Bella was snuggled in the puppy den with her brood, all fast asleep, Maggie thought. Until the vigilant mother opened her eyes a crack to check out the visitor.
Deciding Maggie was harmless, Bella sighed and closed her eyes.
“Sleep tight, Bella,” Maggie whispered. “And babies.”
She headed back to the foyer and checked that the front door was locked, too. There was a chain, and she fastened it, as well.
No great defense if Toby decided to come in the house tonight. He did have a key. But at least they would hear him. The dogs certainly would.
Satisfied that she’d done her best to secure the house, Maggie climbed the steps. At the top of the staircase, there was a wide, square center hall with four doors, one on each of the four walls. Lights were on in all the rooms, and the doors were open. She found Dana and Lucy in the largest room, opposite the steps.
Several duffel bags were scattered around on the floor. Dana knelt next to one and tugged out clothing.
“Oh, Maggie . . . there you are. Were you looking for your reading glasses? I think you left them in the parlor,” Lucy said.
“I was checking the locks,” Maggie admitted. “I didn’t want to frighten Rose, in case she was listening. Toby has keys, but there’s a dead bolt on the back door and a chain on the front.”
“Do you really think he’d break in here tonight? What would he try to do?” Lucy asked. Dana had handed her a tank top and yoga pants to use for nightwear. She clutched the clothing in her lap and sat on the edge of the bed.
“For one thing, he may have remembered his envelope in his car, retrieved it, and noticed that someone had opened it. Some ditzy women drivers. I’m sure even he will figure that out.”
Dana looked up and paused her search. “I tried to leave everything as he had left it. But it’s still possible. There was more in the envelope. I didn’t want to tell you about it in front of Rose.”
Maggie and Lucy stared at her.
“What was it?” Lucy asked.
“Forms that would make Toby the trustee of the estate and Rose’s guardian, if anything were to happen to Holly. Even in a medical emergency where she couldn’t communicate.”
“Like . . . what’s going on right now, you mean?” Lucy asked.
“Yes. Though, with any luck, that phase of her recovery is finally over,” Dana answered, her voice quivering. She stood up and dropped some clothes on a chair. “It scares me to contemplate what he might be planning, drawing up papers like that. But at least we found them, and Helen has told Detective Reyes by now.”
“Let’s hope so.” Lucy’s voice was shaky, too. She glanced at Maggie. “Hate to sound like a chicken, but can we all sleep with our doors open tonight?”
“Cluck, cluck . . . agreed,” Maggie said. “And we have the faithful hounds to stand guard while we sleep. That’s something.”
“I think mine deserted me for their new friends,” Lucy said. “They looked so comfortable in Rose’s dog pack, I didn’t have the heart to call them up here.”
“I’m for open doors. And a few lights on,” Dana announced. “But I am tired. Guess I’ll say good night.”
Maggie felt the same. She bade good night to her friends and found her room, which was across the hall from Lucy’s. Dana had already laid fresh sheets, towels, and other necessaries on the dresser.
Maggie picked up a new toothbrush and slipped it from the box. She glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked tired . . . and shaken.
Didn’t this latest disclosure put Dana in danger, as well? As things stood, she was the only person standing between Toby and all that he so desperately wanted.
Chapter 12
“Maggie? I’m so sorry . . . Can you wake up?”
Maggie rolled over and opened her eyes. A narrow beam of light from the hallway slanted into the room. Dana stood next to the bed. Her voice was low and urgent.
“What is it . . . ? Is something wrong?” Maggie sat up, a frisson of alarm streaking through her body like an electric shock.
Dana sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on a short boot. She was otherwise dressed, including her jacket. “It’s Holly. The hospital just called. She’s had another setback. It’s serious. They caught her just in time . . .” Her voice was shaking with emotion, and Maggie gripped her arm.
“What happened? Will she be all right?”
Dana swallowed. “I couldn’t get much information on the phone, but it sounds like the oxygen machine failed. A nurse came in by chance and saw the light was off and a line was disconnected. An alarm on the machine should have gone off, but that failed, too.”
“Oh my goodness. That is grave. Was it off for very long?” she asked, fearing the answer.
“I don’t know,” Dana said honestly. “The doctor I spoke to said that Holly was responsive, so I’m hopeful there’s no serious damage. I’m going there right now.” Dana came to her feet and zipped up her jacket. “Can you stay with Rose?”
“Of course. I’ll stay as long as you need me to.”
Maggie rose and wrapped a light blanket around her shoulders. She faced Dana and could see that she’d been crying.
“Maybe I should come with you. Lucy can stay
with Rose . . . You don’t even have your car,” she reminded Dana “And mine is stuck in the mud. That doesn’t help.”
“I’ll take Holly’s truck. I already found the keys. I’ll be fine. I doubt the doctor will let me see her for long. I know she can’t speak.” She looked down at Maggie. “You should go back to sleep. I was just going to leave you a note.”
“I’m so glad that you didn’t,” Maggie said honestly. “I’ll walk you downstairs. I couldn’t sleep a wink now anyway.”
Maggie stood at the front door and watched Dana head over to the truck. It was five in the morning, with the merest sign of the new day seeping into the darkness.
A fog had settled in around the house and the cars. It would burn off by daylight. Maggie hoped so anyway. She’d never seen Dana as the type of person who would drive a truck, but she looked very comfortable behind the wheel.
She started the engine and slowly backed out.
“Drive safely,” Maggie called.
Dana waved as she passed the house. Maggie watched the taillights disappear into the fog. As she turned to shut the door, she noticed Toby’s car. It had not been visible before, but there it sat. How had it moved out of the garage? She wondered if Dana had noticed it, too.
Maggie felt as if she’d slept with one eye open, but she had not heard a car start up or drive away. Or come back. But it seemed that Toby had gone out sometime during the night.
Had he noticed anything awry with the envelope? She hoped not, but here she was. No place to hide if he decided to confront someone.
The doors to the parlor were firmly closed, and Maggie was careful not to wake Rose. She slipped into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She could hear the puppies rousing. They were early risers, weren’t they?
She glanced into the mudroom and saw Bella in her usual pose, stretched out on her side, feeding her babies. Maggie found her water bowl and filled it. She decided not to offer food. That was Rose’s territory. She didn’t want to do anything wrong.
Maggie felt a soft, furry touch on her bare foot and found the brown ball of fur she’d held the other night nuzzling her ankle. “Good morning to you, too, little one. No breakfast there, sorry to say. You belong with your brothers and sisters.”
Maggie lifted the puppy. Its little body hung slack in the air, and it stared back at Maggie while airborne, as if to say, “Where are you taking me?”
“Here’s your mom. See?” Maggie set the puppy down next to Bella, who seemed to offer a grateful smile, then watched the pup scramble over siblings to find a good spot for breakfast.
Back the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of coffee and stared out the window. The printout of Toby’s background search and the old newspaper articles about the accident that Lucy had found online had been left on the table.
Maggie had forgotten to look at them the night before. She slipped on her reading glasses, and glanced through the pages. She already knew more than she wanted to know about Toby and put those pages aside.
There were newspaper clippings about the accident, the initial report, and an obituary of Chip Lynch, the young motorcycle driver who had lost his life. The photo alongside looked like one taken for a high school yearbook, which touched Maggie’s heart. He’d been about the same age as Holly and her boyfriend, maybe a few years older? Certainly too young to die in such a senseless way.
The article said he’d grown up in nearby Newburyport. Maggie wondered if his family still lived in the area. As it often happened when a young person passed, the article was quite short. Chip Lynch had been an aspiring musician who played the guitar and sang in a band. He’d worked days in construction. He had been a good friend to all and had helped coach his younger sister Tabetha’s softball team. His parents, neighbors, and former teachers all had had kind words about him and noted that he would be greatly missed.
There were also two articles about the trial and the sentencing. There had been no close family to fight for Jeremy, Maggie noticed. Just a single mother, who looked careworn and deeply ashamed in the photos. There was a picture of Jeremy from his senior yearbook, a handsome young man in a formal shirt and tie. Another, of him in handcuffs as he stared down at the ground as he was being led from a police car into a courthouse and jail.
Maggie had taught art at Plum Harbor High School for over twenty-five years. Had Jeremy been one of her students? She studied his photo. She didn’t think so. Though something about his face in profile in the blurry newspaper photo looked vaguely familiar.
She must have seen him in the school hallways and filed his face somewhere back in her memory. She put the newspaper articles aside. There were no surprises or insights there, she decided. Nothing she did not expect. It was a tragedy, a true accident. Nobody’s fault and yet so many young lives were damaged forever in the blink of an eye that night. In a heartbeat, Maggie thought.
She took another sip of coffee and felt sufficiently awake to do some knitting. She hoped Dana would call as soon as she heard any news, but knew it might take several hours.
“Maggie? What are you doing down here? Couldn’t sleep?”
Maggie’s eyes fluttered open, her deep sleep broken by a familiar voice for the second time that day.
Lucy stared down at her, her face in shadow as sunlight streamed in through the kitchen curtains behind her. How long had she been sitting there?
“I got up very early. I must have dozed off in the chair.” Maggie sat up and took a deep breath. “Dana had to go out about five. The hospital called. Something happened to Holly. They say she’s out of danger, but Dana wanted to see her.”
Maggie checked her phone and saw that it was half past seven and then looked at her messages. “I hope I didn’t miss her call.” She checked the incoming calls on her phone.
Lucy looked upset. “What was it? More trouble breathing?” Lucy asked with concern. She poured herself coffee and sat at the table across from Maggie.
“Not exactly. Something went wrong with the oxygen machine. A nurse found a line disconnected. And the alarm didn’t go off, either.” Maggie released a shaky breath. “Very disturbing. And it will be hard to find out how it happened.”
“If the machine was knocked out by accident, you mean, or on purpose.” Lucy took a seat across from her at the table. “I hate to sound paranoid, but whoever attacked Holly on Tuesday could have tried again.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking. But why?”
“Do you think it’s because she was coming around and ready to talk to the police? Who knew that except us?” Lucy asked.
“Toby,” Maggie replied. “His car wasn’t in the garage this morning. It was parked in front of the house. He must have moved it sometime last night. I know that doesn’t prove anything at all,” she said quickly. “I just found it curious.”
“All things considered, I was wishing his car wasn’t here at all. I keep expecting him to barge in here, ranting about that envelope.”
“I do, too,” Maggie admitted. “I’m starting to regret that I dreamed up that scheme.”
“No regrets, Maggie. I thought that was your favorite song?” Everyone knew that the famous ballad sung by Edith Piaf was Maggie’s rallying cry. “Besides, the information we found in it was very important. It can help the police and keep Rose and Holly safe. Toby may not want to face us after he finds out we saw what was in there.”
“I hope that’s true.” Maggie stood up and stretched. “We should tell Rose together about Holly. Try to keep her calm. Dana was concerned that she wouldn’t be here to explain it and handle any reaction, but I’m hoping Rose knows and trusts us enough by now.”
“I understand,” Lucy said. “The most important thing is to make sure Rose knows Holly is out of danger and will be back on track, given a little more time.”
“That’s it exactly.” Maggie’s phone rang. She saw Dana’s name on the screen. “It’s Dana. I’ll put her on speaker so we can both hear.” Lucy drew closer, and Maggie answered the call.
“How’s Holly? Is she doing any better?”
“She’s bounced back. They’ve given her tests, and it seems there was no lasting damage, thank goodness. Apparently, a nurse got the oxygen back on in time to avoid a crisis.”
An easy way of saying, “Before Holly died of asphyxiation. Or had any lasting damage to her brain or other organs.” But Maggie did not interrupt with that comment. There was nothing to gain but worrying about “what ifs.”
“Do they know how it happened? Is someone on the staff to blame?” Lucy asked.
Dana’s voice lowered. “That’s the thing. It was a very light staff last night, and everyone on the floor is accounted for between the time the machine was checked and functioning perfectly and when the disconnect was discovered,” she replied. “They have a video of the hallway. The hospital security department is checking it, along with the police.”
“Is Detective Reyes there?” Lucy asked.
“She’s in the building, but I haven’t seen her yet.”
Maggie leaned closer to the phone. “I think you should tell her that Toby’s car was moved sometime during the night. Did you notice? We left it in the garage, and this morning it’s in front of the house.”
“I was in such a panic, I didn’t notice that.” Dana paused. “If he did come here and did this to Holly, wouldn’t he be smart enough to park in the same spot again?”
“That would be the smart thing to do. But there’s such a thing, I’ve heard, as ‘dumb crook syndrome,’ ” Lucy explained. “Bank robbers who write the teller a note on the back of an envelope with their full name and address. A form of self-sabotage. I can easily see Toby in that category.”
“Me too. Come to think of it, he is the only one who knew that Holly was improving and could soon speak to the police.” She paused. “And I mentioned it to Tim Riley when we were on the way to the hospital yesterday. But I don’t think he’d ever hurt her.”
