“Edwin Cooper.”
Marcie’s mouth dropped open and the color drained from her face. She looked like a stunned geisha.
Deena realized the cause of her extreme reaction. “Don’t worry, Edwin is fine. You must have read in the newspaper yesterday that he had died. We corrected it in today’s edition. It was all a big mix-up.”
Marcie closed her mouth and offered a faint smile. “That’s a relief. I wasn’t sure what to think for a moment.” She typed into her computer, hit some buttons, and typed some more. The frown returned. “I’m sorry. You’re not listed here.”
“Is anyone else? His son or granddaughter perhaps?”
Marcie flinched a little but then said, “No. There is no one else on his account. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be able to help you.”
Deena had fully anticipated this response. She made a show of picking up her handbag and putting it on her shoulder, then stood up. “That’s okay. Thanks for trying. I’ll just ask Mr. Rusk if he can—”
“No, wait,” Marcie said, her breath coming out in short spurts. “Tell me exactly what you need, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Deena sat back down and looked at the nervous woman gratefully. “You’re a doll, Marcie. All we want to know is if my neighbor actually came to the bank by himself or with someone else. Also, we want to know if there was anything unusual about the way he was behaving that day.”
The woman’s face brightened. “That doesn’t seem too personal. I’m sure I can do that.” She picked up her pen again. “What day was it?”
“It was last Thursday.”
Her color began to return. “Did you say ‘we’? Do you work for the newspaper?”
That had been a mistake. Deena forgot a lot of people knew her because of her bylines. She didn’t want to put the woman off by making her think she was only interested in the information for a story. “Actually, I am a reporter, but Edwin lives next door to me.”
“Okay, last Thursday. Let me go ask the tellers.” She stood up.
“Oh, and one more thing. On the bank slip, there was a note written at the bottom. It said box one ninety-two, if that helps.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Really? That’s a safe deposit box. I’m the only one who can authorize going into the boxes, unless I wasn’t here, and I haven’t had a day off since . . . well, forever.”
Until yesterday, that is. “It had some initials next to it. Let me think.” Deena racked her brain. Even though she had taught school for more than thirty years, she had never been good with names. She chided herself for not writing it down, then put her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. She remembered it was swoopy. “L something.” She tried to picture it. “It was L and D. No, B. I think it was LB.”
Marcie made a note and stood up. She pulled down forcefully on the hem of her blazer as if it had angered her in some way. “I’ll be right back.”
Yikes. Someone was about to be in trouble.
Deena looked around the stark office. There were no photographs of children or a husband, and Deena had noticed the woman didn’t wear a wedding ring. There weren’t any pictures of Marcie on a cruise or standing shoulder to shoulder with friends or family.
The woman was either very private or led a very boring life. Deena had a feeling it was the latter. The only décor was one of those cheesy inspirational posters of a man on a rope trying to get to the top of a mountain, with the word determination written in large, bold letters.
Deena pulled out her phone and saw a message from Dan. He wanted her to call him. It would have to wait. Marcie was back with another woman reluctantly on her heels.
The girl looked to be in her early thirties. There was a hole on the side of her nose where she must have worn a piercing. Deena could see just the bottom edge of a tattoo peeking out from the cuff of her long-sleeved shirt. She stopped in the doorway, as though entering the office was like taking a step off the edge of a cliff.
“Get in here and shut the door,” Marcie said as she sat down behind her desk. “Mrs. Sharpe, this is Leslie Babcock. Take a seat, Leslie.”
“Hi,” Deena said and moved over to the next chair.
Marcie kept her voice even, although she seemed to be gritting her teeth. “Leslie just started working here about three weeks ago, replacing Allison Granger.”
“Nice to meet you, Leslie.” Deena hoped her friendly smile would comfort the poor girl.
“Tell Mrs. Sharpe what you told me,” Marcie said. “It’s okay.”
The girl looked at her hands in her lap, clearly nervous. “Mr. Cooper came to the bank on Thursday to make a withdrawal and get some stuff out of his safe deposit box. I knew I wasn’t supposed to open the box, but Ms. Phillips was at lunch, and I didn’t want to make him come back. I thought I was being a helpful bank bee.” She cocked her head and raised her eyes at Marcie.
“Um, that is just an employee motivational tactic,” Marcie explained, “to encourage employees to always act like ‘busy bees’ to help our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is not an excuse to break company policy.”
Deena felt bad for the girl. “I appreciate your effort, Leslie. Anyway, when you spoke with Mr. Cooper, was he acting unusual at all?”
“No.”
“He didn’t seem dizzy or forgetful?”
“No.”
“Was he alone?”
The girl hesitated long enough to give herself away. She mumbled something under her breath.
Marcie was obviously losing her patience. “Speak up! Mrs. Sharpe wants to know about Mr. Cooper. Did he walk in with anyone else or not?”
“No, he didn’t walk in with another person.” Leslie held her head up in defiance.
“Okay, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Marcie’s tone was snippier now.
Deena sensed the girl was hiding something. “Why did you say you didn’t want to make him come back?”
“Because he didn’t feel well, that’s why.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“But you just said he was acting normally.” Deena twisted in the chair to face the girl directly. “How do you know he wasn’t feeling well?”
The girl diverted her eyes and seemed to search the top of Marcie’s desk for an answer. Finally, she said, “Because he stayed in his car and his granddaughter came inside.”
Marcie, clearly embarrassed by the new employee’s lack of transparency, stood up. “Mrs. Sharpe, will you excuse Leslie and me for a few moments. I think we need to talk in private.”
“So do I. But I’m asking you to excuse yourself so I can talk to Leslie alone.”
Marcie started to respond, but Deena interrupted. “Do we need to call in Mr. Rusk? Give me five minutes and hopefully this will all be behind us.”
Marcie appeared to realize that Deena had her over a barrel. She picked up her purse. “Five minutes. I’ll be in the ladies’ room.” She walked out and closed the door behind her.
Deena scooted her chair away from Leslie to give the girl some breathing room. “It sounds like you’re hiding something. Please just tell me what happened.”
“I was telling the truth when I said Mr. Cooper didn’t come in with anyone else because technically, he didn’t come inside.” She locked eyes on Deena but was the first to blink. “Oh. All right. Kitty Cooper came in and asked to withdraw money from her grandfather’s account. She had his driver’s license. I told her that was against bank policy.”
“Good, so what happened then?”
“She said her grandfather was in the car and didn’t feel well and couldn’t come inside. That’s when I suggested she use the drive-thru. That way we could speak to her grandfather through the window.”
“Makes sense.”
“But then she said she needed to get something out of his safe deposit box. That it was urgent. She may have said she was taking him to the hospital. Anyway, I knew Marcie was at lunch, so I just did it. I gave her the money she asked for and let her into his box. She
even had the key.”
“Are you saying you never actually saw him?” That might explain his lack of remembering the trip.
“Oh, I saw him—”
Deena waited. “When? You said he stayed in the car.”
“When Miss Cooper left, I walked to the door and waved at Mr. Cooper.”
“Was anyone else inside the car?”
“Um, I didn’t notice anyone else.”
Deena wondered why Edwin would have stayed in the car unless he really had been feeling bad. “And you are sure it was Mr. Cooper?”
Leslie shook her head. “I couldn’t say for sure, but he was old.”
Deena didn’t want to believe that Kitty had taken advantage of her grandfather, but that seemed like the only explanation. She sighed heavily. “You know, there are rules for a reason.” She went into full-on teacher mode. “Mr. Cooper had no memory of the visit to the bank and he is upset about it. He also lost that bank slip and his driver’s license after leaving the bank. I know that’s not your fault, but it just shows you why there are checks and balances in place.” Deena hoped she’d remember the pun she’d just made so she could tell Gary later. He’d think it was funny.
“I know. You’re right.” A hand flew to her face. “I just hope I don’t get fired. This is the best job I’ve ever had. I go home every day with clean clothes and finally can save up money to get my own place.”
Deena reached out and patted the girl’s arm. “I’ll put in a good word for you with Marcie. I think that will help.”
When they stood, Leslie made a beeline back to the tellers’ windows. Deena waited in the office for Marcie. When she came in, she seemed surprised to see Deena alone. “Where’s Leslie?”
“I think she’s learned her lesson,” Deena said. “Give her a chance and I think she’ll make a great worker bee. Besides, we all have bad days, right?”
Marcie pursed her lips and nodded.
Deena smiled and tilted her head like Hurley when he wanted a treat. “Before I leave, I just have one more favor to ask.”
Marcie rolled her eyes and plopped down behind her desk. “Okay. What is it now?”
Chapter 11
Just when you feel like you know almost everyone in a small town, you turn the corner and stumble upon a pocket of people you’ve never seen or heard of before. That’s what happened to Deena when she got to Freddy’s Tire Town. Marcie was “kind enough” to give Deena the name of Kitty Cooper’s workplace, and Deena headed straight there from the bank.
Gary was one hundred percent in charge of car maintenance, so Freddy’s was like a foreign country to Deena. She found it stuck between the furniture store and one of several used car dealerships. Five garage bays were all occupied with vehicles and guys busy with roaring tools and lots of grease. Actually, one of those guys might have been a girl, but Deena couldn’t tell for sure.
She went inside and was surprised to see a line of people waiting at the front register. Who knew so many people suffered with flat tires on any given day? The place smelled thickly of rubber, which should have been no surprise to Deena. She made a mental note to thank Gary for the thankless job of keeping her car gassed and running.
Kitty was one of two people helping customers behind the counter. Deena got in line. When it was finally her turn to be waited on, another customer was already standing behind her. This was definitely not the ideal situation in which to question Edwin’s granddaughter.
“Can I help you?” A slight hint of recognition came across Kitty’s face as she looked up at Deena.
Keeping her voice low, Deena said, “I need to talk to you about last Thursday when you took your grandfather to the bank and got in his safe deposit box.” She hoped that extra nugget of detail would get the girl’s attention.
It seemed to do the trick. “Let me show you what we have in stock.” Kitty walked out from around the counter. She led Deena to one of the walls of wheels. Her hands were dark and smudged with tire residue. Pointing at the display, she spoke out of the side of her mouth. “How did you find out?”
“Does that matter?”
“It does to me.” She walked a few steps down the wall. “Can’t we do this later?”
“No, I have a deadline.”
Kitty seemed confused but kept up her tire-selling ruse. She let out a deep breath. “I needed money. I got three hundred, gave Granddad seventy-five, and kept the rest.”
Deena stepped forward and bent down toward one of the tires as though she were inspecting it. She thought about giving it a kick but didn’t want to get her shoe dirty. “What about the safe deposit box?”
“I took out my grandmother’s ring so I could hock it. You heard Granddad say everything was going to me eventually. I thought I would get it now instead of waiting.”
Deena couldn’t help but make a face at that. “Why didn’t you just ask him? I’m sure he would have given you the money if he thought you really needed it.”
Kitty shook her head slightly. “Because I borrowed money last month for my boyfriend. Granddad doesn’t like him.” She turned and headed back to the counter.
Deena followed although she wanted to ask more questions.
“Just let us know if you decide to replace your tires,” Kitty said. She picked up a store business card and jotted down a phone number on the back. “Give us a call if you have any more questions.”
“Thanks.” Not wanting to get Kitty in trouble, Deena took the card and walked out of the store. She thought about the conversation at Edwin’s where Kitty had reminded her grandfather of the boyfriend’s name. It didn’t come to her. On a hunch, she decided to check out the mechanics.
The first man was definitely too old to be the boyfriend. She walked further down the line. The second one was too young. The third one looked just right. The name on the shirt was Jerrod.
“Hey, Jerrod. I have a question about Kitty. You’re her boyfriend, right?”
Jerrod held up a whopper of a wrench and pointed to the guy in the next bay over. “No. That’s Clay,” he said and went back to work.
Clay was on his cell phone when she walked up, and from the icy stare, she had a feeling he was talking to Kitty. She was undoubtedly telling him about Deena’s visit.
She waited for him to hang up. He turned his back to her, then put the phone down on the rolling toolbox.
“Clay, I wanted to see if I could ask you a few questions about Edwin Cooper.”
“I can’t talk while I’m working. Get out of here or you’ll get me fired.”
Just then his cell phone rang. The name that came up on the screen was Leslie Babcock.
That was all Deena needed to know.
DEENA MADE IT BACK to Gary’s office in time for pizza. She sat in a chair between him and her brother, Russell. The pizza was still hot.
“Thanks again for coming to help.” She held up her hands, which were obviously in need of a manicure. “I didn’t want to chip a nail.”
“I was glad to get out of the house,” Russell said, wearing one of his signature Tommy Bahama shirts and cargo shorts. He was older than Deena and always ready to help out. “Cliff will be here in a while. Now that he’s hitched, the little woman likes him home for lunch.”
“That’s sweet,” Deena said. “Gary used to show up occasionally at the school and bring me lunch. Now, he could care less if I’m even around.” She offered up a sly grin.
“Huh,” Gary huffed. “Now that’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
“What do you mean? I call you to have lunch with me sometimes.”
Gary shook his head. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Russell intervened. “I saw your story about the dead guy from the café. Have they figured out who he is yet?”
“Not that I know of, but I have a lead.”
“Cool. Who is he?” Russell folded a slice of pizza in half like a sandwich and took a bite.
“He’s a homeless guy who had been hanging out at the Pine Tree Motel. His nam
e may or may not be Rocky. I still don’t know how he got my neighbor’s ID and bank slip.”
She told Gary and Russell about her visit to the bank and the tire store and what Kitty had done. “Sounds like Edwin just forgot about going with her to the bank last week.”
Gary’s forehead wrinkled. Worry lines were a recent addition to his now sixty-year-old face. “Are you planning on telling Edwin what Kitty did? I don’t like the idea of her taking advantage of her grandfather’s possible senility.”
Russell turned to Gary. “Seriously? For a couple of hundred bucks? I’d stay out of it, especially now that she knows you guys know. Who among us never swiped a few bucks from grandma’s purse?”
Gary and Deena both raised their hands.
Deena chuckled. “You were always the sneaky one. But I know what you mean. I don’t want to come between Edwin and the only family member he still likes.”
“Sounds like case closed,” Gary said.
Deena shot him a look. “What do you mean?”
“You figured out who the homeless guy is.” He wiped his mouth on a napkin. “You now know who took Edwin’s ID and bank statement. What’s there left to know?”
She held up her hands. “Well, how did those items end up with Rocky B., for one.”
Russell wadded up his napkin and shot it toward the wastepaper basket in the corner of the room.
“Nice shot,” Gary said.
“Thanks.” Then Russell looked back at Deena. “Maybe that stuff fell out of the car or Kitty dropped it outside the bank. Sounds like this Rocky guy would be the kind to pick them up and pocket them. He may have just died before getting to use them for something nefarious.”
Deena hadn’t considered that.
“What I don’t get,” Russell continued, “is how the bank let his granddaughter into his safe deposit box. Estelle and I have some important papers and her father’s coin collection in one, and I don’t like to think they’d let just anyone with a key get stuff out of it.”
“I know the answer to that one.” Deena pointed to her temple. “You may have gotten the mechanical talent, but I got the brains.”
Sharpe Wit Page 6
