“Gilford and his sister inherited the family property jointly.” Mary picked up the narrative. “Zelda lived in the big house with her husband and kids. Gilford was a confirmed bachelor, no wife or kids, so he took over the caretaker’s cottage on the estate. The only assets Zelda wouldn’t have been able to touch would probably have been his stocks, bonds and actual cash.” Mary shrugged. “My parents didn’t stay in touch with the sister after Gilford’s accident, so I don’t know why she waited this long to take legal action.”
“Did everyone just give up searching for him?” Edna asked. “Did the media ever follow up or speculate?”
Mary shook her head. “The press forgot all about Gilford when the spotlight fell on Billy Rob Kailey. He disappeared less than a week later. His wife reported him missing and then the mangled, bloated body was pulled out of Salt Pond right after that. The investigation into Kailey’s vanishing uncovered the embezzlement. When people learned his company’s bank accounts had been cleaned out, the news set the town on fire because so many people lost their life’s savings. In light of the devastation, Pennyworth was forgotten. The inquiry and subsequent blame fixed on George Baxter, Kailey’s partner. Everyone was frustrated and angry. If they couldn’t get their hands on Billy Rob, George was the next best thing.”
“Did no one consider the corpse might have been Gilford Pennyworth and not Billy Rob Kailey?” Edna asked.
Mary shook her head. “Couldn’t see where that would be possible. Gilford was lost in the ocean. Salt Pond is up a-ways with coves and obstructions along the narrows. Not likely a body would find its way into Salt Pond from the sea, even with the fierce storms and unusual weather patterns at the time. A strong nor’easter followed a series of squalls that week. Lot of damage along the coast and inland, but still it would be hard to imagine Gilford’s body ending up in Salt Pond.”
“Well, apparently that’s what happened,” Edna said. She turned to Charlie. “How did Jason make the connection between Pennyworth and Kailey?”
“I’ll answer that for a refill,” he said, holding up his empty tumbler.
Edna welcomed the break. Her head was reeling with the complexities of all she’d heard in the last half-hour. She went to the kitchen for ice and water when Charlie requested a diluted drink this time. For the next several minutes, he was on the phone. Mary poured more wine for herself and Edna.
When she returned with his drink, the detective was just setting his mobile on the table before him. He accepted his refreshed drink from her with thanks before explaining his call. “Tony Somner’s awake. He has a concussion, but I’ll be able to talk to him first thing in the morning.”
Feeling a tightening in her stomach at the man’s name, Edna returned to her chair. Despite what he had put her through, she was glad Tony wasn’t severely injured, but she didn’t want to dwell on him at the moment. “You were about to tell us how Jason and his friend found out that the Salt Pond corpse was Gilford Pennyworth.”
“Couple of clever guys,” Charlie said, raising his eyebrows in seeming admiration. “Those two young lawyers put their heads together, figured out the timing of Pennyworth’s boat accident with Kailey’s disappearance and dug a little deeper into Pennyworth’s background. When their research led them to discover he’d had some bridge work done by Pieter Resnik, Jason hot-footed it back to the clinic and pulled Pennyworth’s file. The M.E.’s office in Providence verified yesterday that the charts and x-rays match the body identified this week as William Robinson Kailey.”
“So Pieter swapped the two folders,” Mary speculated. “Putting Kailey’s information into Pennyworth’s folder and vice versa.”
“That’s if Pieter was the one who did the switch,” Edna amended. “Maybe Billy Rob got into Pieter’s office and made the switch himself.”
Charlie cut in to finish his thought. “The lawyers are now conferring with the district attorney’s office to decide how to proceed with the information. Most likely, they’ll exhume Pennyworth’s body and find the old trial records match his teeth. At any rate, the families will want the bodies to be buried properly.”
Mary spoke up. “Seems to me, the media’s been awfully quiet about Pennyworth surfacing. Nothing’s been on the news. If folks around town have heard, I would know.”
Charlie chucked. “Seems your pipeline is a little plugged up for once.” More somberly, he said, “The judge is keeping a lid on it because of the ongoing trial. That’s one reason I told you nothing is to leave this room.” He sat back again and nodded at Edna. “I know you must be tired, so I’ll leave you alone soon, but can you give me at least some highlights of what happened with Tony Somner tonight? Any information I have about what went on will help when I talk to him in the morning.”
Edna felt warmed by Charlie’s concern and kindness as he eased her into memories she’d as soon forget. She knew she’d have to recall the terror sooner or later, but in the relaxed atmosphere of her home and among friends, she didn’t feel as much of the fear return as she’d expected. As she talked, she realized the retelling was therapeutic, and she thought she might even be able to sleep that night.
When the tale finally wound down with the telling of Mary’s arrival on the scene in time to help tie up the concussed man, Charlie bid the others good-night, saying he figured they all needed to get some sleep. After walking him to the front door, Edna returned to the living room to find Mary standing with the week’s worth of newspapers in her arms. The basket that held kindling for starting fires was empty.
“Thought you might want to donate these to the neighborhood paper drive,” she said to Edna with a chuckle. “Or would you rather save them for Al to read?”
“Albert,” Edna corrected automatically and grimaced as she thanked Mary for her foresight.
Once she had locked the mudroom door behind Mary and Annie, Edna felt too exhausted to keep her eyes open any longer. The emotional and mental exercise of reliving the fright she’d experienced earlier that evening had drained the last reserves of her energy. Leaving the dirty glasses and plates in the kitchen sink, she dragged herself up the stairs to bed, but not before taking the phone from her tote bag and plugging it into the charger.
Chapter 22
Edna immediately fell into a deep sleep only to struggle out of a bad dream three hours later. She was in the middle of a dense, gray fog. Someone was chasing her. She tried to run but her feet seemed to weigh fifty pounds each, slowing her down. She must move faster. Her heart pounded as she tried to lift one foot after the other, but she could manage only baby steps. She felt the man’s hot breath on her neck. Just as he grabbed her, she sat bolt upright in bed. For a moment, she was disoriented, trembling. She tried to bring back details of the nightmare so she could mentally confront the terror. The attempt finally tired her and she’d begun to relax when the image of Pieter’s stricken face popped into her head, bringing her fully awake again.
After an hour of tossing and turning, she drifted in and out of a half sleep with countless unanswered questions spinning in her head. Had Pieter died of natural causes? If not, had either Tony or Jason killed him? How did Vera’s nephew know Pieter was dead before Edna and Carol discovered his body? What was on Pieter’s computer? How did the periodontist become involved with a con man like Billy Rob Kailey to the extent he would commit perjury and send an innocent man to prison?
The futile struggle to find answers swept away sleep once more. Rolling from her left side to her right, she managed to wrap the sheet and blanket around her legs. After freeing herself from the tangle, she punched up her pillow for the umpteenth time and tried to clear her mind. She began by picturing herself in a quiet place as she’d learned to do in a yoga class. No sooner had she relaxed than Tony Somner’s image filled her head. He was standing in the doorway to Gordon’s office, a hammer raised in his hand as if he were about to hurl it at her. The memory made her heart race. She flipped to her other side and tried again to erase all thoughts from her mind. No use. Pieter�
��s unseeing eyes penetrated her brain.
Sighing heavily, she rolled onto her back. Eyes closed and right arm draped across her forehead, she mentally reviewed the past week like a film in fast-forward. She had one thing figured out, she thought. Pieter had turned up the music in order to drown out the sound of Tony’s banging on the front door. “Big deal,” she muttered to the ceiling.
The door … she reversed the film to when she and Carol knocked at Pieter’s house. When he hadn’t answered, Edna remembered Carol knocked harder. The door had swung to. It hadn’t been locked. Edna’s eyes flew open. If Tony had banged on the door as he’d said, the same thing would have happened. If he’d been telling the truth about not entering the house, someone else had been there Wednesday night. Was Vera correct in thinking it had been Jason?
Shortly after five-thirty by her bedside clock, Edna knew she would get no more sleep. She rose, showered away some of the muzzy-headed feeling and dressed. In the kitchen, she greeted and fed Benjamin. Mainly to occupy time before leaving for her nine o’clock hair appointment, she made an apple strudel, Albert’s favorite sweet. She didn’t expect him home before suppertime, but he would enjoy the treat for breakfast Saturday morning.
When the pastry was in the oven, she decided to invite Charlie over for lunch. He would see through her ruse to pump him for information about Pieter Resnik’s death, but that was okay. With Albert home, she might not have another chance for days to learn what the police had discovered. Placing a call to his cell phone, she left a message when, as expected, she was directed to his voice mail.
Every Friday morning, during Edna’s absence, Housekeeper Helpers arrived to clean her house. Needing to kill more time before leaving for town, Edna strolled around rooms, upstairs and down, putting books back on shelves, clearing off table tops and performing various other tasks to make the house clutter free for the two maids. Try as she might to suppress her wandering thoughts, the physical activities did not keep her from wondering why Pieter Resnik had conspired with a man like Billy Rob Kailey. Finally, to clear her head, she chatted to Benjamin while she cleaned his eating and sleeping areas. At last, it was time to meet Tuck and Peppa at the salon.
After being pampered with shampoos and manicures, the ladies generally reconvened at a local café to gossip over coffee. This Friday, Edna realized her friends would expect a recounting of the week’s events which the media, for lack of solid information, had given only cursory coverage. Although her name had never been mentioned by the press, Edna knew Tuck and Peppa would assume she had knowledge and quiz her mercilessly. She wasn’t ready to talk to her friends about the trauma of her encounter with Tony Somner or the shock of finding Pieter Resnik’s body. Not yet.
Claiming a fatigue headache after her restless night, she begged off going to brunch. Peppa said she understood and would as soon go home to Rufus and her jigsaw puzzles. Tuck was disappointed, but with her typical good-sport manner, she hugged her friends and wished them well, declaring it a good excuse to spend the day with her daughter and granddaughter.
Edna returned home to a clean house, a cheery thank-you-for-your-business note from the Housekeeper Helpers and a phone message from Albert. “We were dismissed this morning. I’ll see you in a few hours, sweetie.”
Edna’s heart sank. She didn’t relish the thought of having to explain the week to her husband. If he listened beyond the news that she’d discovered a dead body Monday night, he’d certainly be apoplectic over her encounter with Tony Somner. Albert’s reaction to learning she’d found a second body less than three days after the first was beyond comprehension. She deleted his message and phoned Charlie to let him know the good news, that Albert would be joining them for lunch. She knew the detective would receive her unspoken request. She and Charlie would never cause Albert undue worry by mentioning her involvement in murder cases.
Putting aside what she could not control, Edna considered what she might make for lunch on this lovely but cool spring day. When the satirical opinion that “real men don’t eat quiche” popped into her head, she chuckled and thought, Just the thing.
An hour later, she had cooked the broccoli, shredded the Swiss cheese and was chopping onion and green pepper, when she heard the back door open. There followed a bustling of activity that took Benjamin off his chair and heading for the mudroom. Halfway across the kitchen he stopped to greet his neighbors as Annie scurried into the room, tail wagging furiously. Hank came next with Ink Spot riding on his back.
“Whatcha doin’?” Bringing up the rear, Mary called out her usual greeting. Dressed in green-and-brown camo fatigues with her curly red hair secured at the back of her neck with a large tortoise-shell clip, she stepped into the room and altered her greeting to “Whatcha makin’?”
Edna laughed. “Cheese and broccoli quiche,” she responded, wiping her hands on her apron before bending to pat each dog. “Albert will be home and I’m hoping Charlie will join us. I’ve doubled the recipe, so there’s plenty if you can lunch with us.”
“Twist my arm,” Mary answered. She never apologized or asked if she were interrupting. Their friendship had grown to the point where they were candid with each other. If she were intruding, Edna would say so.
While Mary commanded the dogs to “hit the bricks” and ignored the cats who had already settled together on Benjamin’s favorite cushion, Edna moistened the biscuit mix with the milk to the point it was still lumpy. She divided the ingredients between two nine-inch pie pans, as Mary took her preferred seat beside the cats’ chair on the far side of the table from where she could watch Edna work. “Talked to Carol this morning,” she announced.
“What’d she have to say?” Edna half turned her head before placing the quiche into the oven and setting the timer. That done, she faced Mary with a frown. “What’s she doing phoning you. Anything wrong between her and …” Edna stopped and bit her lip.
Mary smirked and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “Her boyfriend … what’s his name?” When Edna didn’t fall for the weak attempt to weasel the man’s identity, Mary continued unfazed. “What’s-his-name has to work today, so Carol decided to do some more online research for her story on Kailey and the Baxter trial.”
“Let me guess,” Edna said. “You spotted each other on Skype.” The kettle whistled just then and she turned back to the stove. Turning off the burner, she poured boiling water into a teapot. As she worked, she spoke over her shoulder. “How much did you tell her about what we’ve learned?”
“Everything I could think of.” Mary said.
“We have time for a cup before I set the table for lunch,” Edna said, bringing the teapot and two mugs to the table before resuming the conversation. “Did she have anything new to report from her end?”
“Not much. She was sorry she hadn’t been here to go with you to Gordon’s office last night. She thinks Tony wouldn’t have tried anything if there had been two of you. She really sounded sincere, but personally, I think she wasn’t sorry enough to regret being in Chicago.” Mary grinned mischievously as she accepted her mug.
Edna was about to sit across from Mary when the phone rang. She reached to pick up the cordless from the wall cradle before taking her chair.
“Edna? Gordon here,” came the soft baritone as soon as she answered. “I’ve been feeling guilty not checking with you this week. How’s the tooth?”
She was both pleased and surprised to hear from her friend. “The tooth’s fine, Gordon.” She emphasized his name slightly so Mary would know who had called. “Thank you for your concern, but I know you’ve had a tough week. You shouldn’t be worrying about me.”
“That’s another reason I’m phoning,” he replied. “I’m so sorry you were the one to walk into that …” he hesitated before continuing, “into that situation Monday. I want to apologize for not being there ahead of you.”
Before he could go on, Edna cut him off. “You weren’t to know, Gordon. It’s done and over with. I’m fine.”
“Thank
you, Edna. You’re being very gracious about something that was extremely traumatic.” In a more relaxed tone, he said, “I also called to see if you and Albert can join me for dinner one evening next week. And, if he’s available, I thought he might like a round of golf this weekend. I need some fresh air and exercise.”
Edna explained about Albert’s jury duty and said she’d have him phone when he got home. “Gordon,” she said and paused, not quite certain how to phrase her request. To his “Yes,” prompt, she rushed ahead. “I haven’t mentioned anything to Albert about this week. I didn’t want him to worry, particularly when there was nothing he could have done.”
She thought she heard relief in the dentist’s voice, and perhaps a tiny hint of collusion, when he replied. “I’m perfectly agreeable to never speaking of the matter again.”
“It’s a deal,” she said, as relief swept over her. “Mum’s the word.”
After a few more words and Edna reaffirming she’d have Albert phone, the call ended. Once she’d set down the receiver, Edna noticed that Mary looked a bit like the Cheshire Cat.
“So Gordon won’t be telling Al about the week’s excitement?” she teased.
Before Edna could think of a rejoinder or correct the nickname that her husband detested, the phone rang again just as she heard the crunch of tires on the broken-shell driveway. Picking up the handset, she raised her eyebrows at Mary and glanced at the wall clock. “That must be Albert now,” she said.
“No, it isn’t,” came his voice through the earpiece. “I’m at Diane’s. Who’re you talking to?”
Startled, Edna managed to hang onto the phone. “Mary,” she said, then asked, “Not coming home for lunch?”
“No. Sorry, dear. I stopped in to see Diane and she’s making sandwiches for us,” he said, mentioning their second-oldest child. “Who did you think must be me?”
Murder by Decay Page 18
