by Bobbi Holmes
Danielle shook her head. “No. But I’ve heard of her.”
“Funny you should mention the Hoopers. I ran into them about a month ago,” he said.
“Did you?” Danielle glanced briefly to Walt and then back to Samuel.
“Yes, for some reason they were under the impression Eloise Winterborne had sold me her engagement ring. To be honest, I was a little concerned they were going to cause me problems, but I haven’t heard from them again. So I assume they figured out what happened to it.”
“You didn’t buy it?” Danielle asked. “According to what Eloise told Emma Jackson, you did.”
Samuel slumped back in his chair and groaned. “Is that why you’re really here? Since I got out of prison I have done everything humanly possible to rebuild my life and regain trust. And now, now some fake story that I have no way of contesting since Eloise isn’t here to confirm my story. This is going to ruin everything for me. I promise I did not take advantage of that woman!”
Startled by Samuel’s outburst, Danielle furrowed her brow. “What woman?”
“Eloise Winterborne, of course.”
“Perhaps you need to start at the beginning,” Walt suggested.
“There is no beginning. At least, not really. But if there was a beginning, it might be the last time I saw Eloise, which was ages ago. She came into my shop to have her ring cleaned. She used to do that every six months.”
“And you didn’t buy it from her?” Danielle asked.
“No. I was already struggling back then. I didn’t have the money to pay for that ring. I suppose had she mentioned something about selling it, I could have found her a buyer and earned a commission. But she never said anything to me about wanting to sell it.”
“But she told people you had bought it,” Danielle said.
“Yes. I didn’t know anything about that until I ran into the Hoopers, and they said something to me about always wondering what I had paid for Winterborne’s engagement ring—implying I’d probably took advantage of her and didn’t give her what it was worth. I told them I didn’t know what they were talking about. I didn’t have that kind of money back then. I thought they believed me. I certainly don’t want them spreading that story. I don’t need the IRS to come after me now for trying to hide an asset I never declared. I don’t need that kind of trouble. But I swear, I haven’t seen that ring since I cleaned it for her. That was over three years ago.”
Thirty-One
“I believe him,” Danielle told Walt after they left Samuel’s house and walked to the Packard.
“I believe he has never seen that shoe before, unless he is an excellent actor. And I don’t think he was lying when he told us there were no valuable gems on it.” Walt stopped by the passenger side of the Packard and opened the car door for Danielle.
Just before stepping into the vehicle, she paused and looked at Walt. “You don’t believe him about Eloise’s ring?”
“I’m not saying that,” Walt began as Danielle climbed into the car. He shut the door behind her and then went to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“What are you saying?” Danielle asked when he climbed into the car.
“It could go either way. He was emotional when he talked about the ring. It could be because he was telling the truth and he was upset this could cause him trouble, or perhaps he did buy Eloise’s ring for a fraction of its worth, and now he’s afraid it’s all going to come back and bite him. Remember, he supposedly bought that ring back before he tried to steal the Missing Thorndike, so it’s not like that all took place when he was trying to turn over a new leaf.” Walt closed his car door. Sitting in the driver’s seat, he turned to face his wife.
“Maybe. But there are only three possible scenarios in all this,” Danielle suggested.
Walt arched his brow. “Which are?”
“We know he didn’t have the money to buy Eloise’s ring for even close to its value, considering Samuel’s money problems started long before he tried to steal the diamonds and emeralds from the Missing Thorndike. So the only three possibilities, he found a buyer for the ring, which we initially assumed. But if that is the case, I don’t see why he would lie about it now. Why lie to cover up earning some commission?”
“The other two possibilities?” Walt asked.
“Another possibility, he is telling the truth. The last possibility—he did buy the ring from her, but paid a fraction of its worth. And if that is the case, then where is the ring now? From everything we’ve heard, he’s struggled financially since his release from prison. Heck, his first job when he got out was washing dishes. And by the looks of that house he’s renting, he is not much better off now. If he bought that ring, where is it? I would think that would have been a nice little nest egg to help rebuild his life when he got out of prison.”
Before Walt had time to respond to Danielle’s theory, her phone began to ring.
She picked up her cellphone and looked at it. “It’s the chief.”
Several minutes later, after chatting briefly with the chief and then saying goodbye to him, she looked at Walt and said, “Pearl was moved to a regular hospital room. How about we stop by and see her? I don’t want to do it this afternoon, since we need to get ready for Lily and Ian’s party.”
Before going to the hospital, Danielle and Walt stopped off and picked up a Christmas-themed floral arrangement to take to Pearl. Danielle figured they needed to take her something, and since it looked as if she was spending Christmas in the hospital, she thought the arrangement might help brighten the stay.
When they arrived outside Pearl’s hospital room thirty minutes later, they found its door open to the hallway and Pearl sitting up in her bed, watching television. Before entering, Danielle knocked on the doorjamb, and she and Walt remained standing in the doorway, waiting for Pearl’s acknowledgment.
A moment later Pearl looked their way. Showing no expression, but a slight flicker of recognition, she picked up the remote from her bed and turned off the television. Taking that as an invitation to enter, Danielle walked into the room, carrying the arrangement, followed by Walt.
“Hello, Mrs. Huckabee, how are you feeling?” Danielle asked when she reached the bedside.
Drawing her brow into a scowl, Pearl looked the pair up and down, her eyes glancing briefly at the floral arrangement before looking back into Danielle’s face.
“I have a broken ankle. How do you think I feel? And I am getting a cold. I just hope it doesn’t turn into pneumonia. Fortunately I had my shot, so hopefully I won’t come down with some other strain.”
“Umm…we brought you this.” Danielle held up the floral arrangement. “Thought it might brighten your room a little. We heard you might be spending Christmas in here.”
“I don’t know how you heard that. The hospital staff had better not be sharing my personal medical records with strangers!” she snapped.
“No. But I asked the police chief how you were doing.” Danielle glanced briefly over her shoulder at Walt, who returned a bemused smile.
“He shouldn’t be sharing my private business either. But yes, looks like I’ll be in this gawd-awful place through Christmas. You can go ahead and set it up there, I guess.” Pearl pointed to the nearby dresser.
After Danielle set the flowers on the dresser, she turned to Pearl and asked, “We wondered if there was anything you might need us to do while you’re in here. Perhaps bring your mail in, or maybe you need me to bring you something from your house?”
“I do not want a stranger looking through my mail or nosing around in my house. Just because you did the decent thing and called 911 when you found me—something I would hope anyone would do—don’t imagine I have any desire to get chummy with people like you. Just leave my house and my mail alone, and don’t think that just because I’m in here for a few days it gives you license to go poking around in my things. I have already hired someone to keep an eye on my house, and if I discover you have stepped onto my property in my absence, do not do
ubt I will call the police and press charges. Do you understand?”
Wide eyed and speechless, Danielle nodded. Finally she said, “Umm…no problem. I guess Walt and I will leave now and let you get back to your TV show.”
Without another word, Walt and Danielle turned and headed for the door. Once they reached it, Pearl called out, “If you want to take those flowers with you, go ahead and take them.”
Danielle paused at the door and looked back to Pearl. “No. It was a gift. Merry Christmas.”
“What a witch!” Lily said after Danielle recounted their visit with Pearl Huckabee. They sat with Walt and Ian in the Bartley living room while Connor napped in his bedroom, and Sadie continually nosed Walt for more attention.
“I’d like to know, what did she mean when she said people like you,” Danielle asked.
“Nice people?” Ian snickered.
Danielle flashed Ian a grin. “Maybe. Who knows what her problem is. But obviously falling off her ladder did not improve her disposition.”
“I don’t think it usually does.” Walt chuckled.
“At least I don’t have to worry about Pearl calling the cops on our party tonight,” Lily said with a giggle.
“By the way, looks like one of our white elephant gifts will be the shoe. So I don’t need to do any more shopping. If you need me to help you do anything for tonight, I’m free,” Danielle told Lily.
“What did you find out about the shoe?” Ian asked.
Walt then told them about their visit with Samuel and Danielle’s theories.
“I have to agree with Danielle,” Ian said when Walt finished his telling. “I doubt Samuel has it.”
“So what happened to the ring?” Lily asked.
“According to what Elizabeth told us, the Hoopers had been hired by the estate to prepare for the auction. And from what Samuel said, it sounds like they found out Eloise hadn’t really sold the ring not long before they were let go by the estate and had to move out,” Danielle explained.
“By the time they talked to Samuel, they had already gone through most of her things,” Walt said. “We assume they hadn’t come across the ring—they didn’t even know it might be in the house somewhere. But when they learned she hadn’t gotten rid of it, they started searching for it, looking in places where it might have been hidden. For some reason, they focused their search on the items placed in that trunk.”
“But you have all that stuff—don’t you?” Lily asked.
“Walt and I don’t think the ring was in it. We believe the Hoopers think it might be, because they obviously never found it anywhere else,” Danielle told them. “But that ring might be shoved behind some loose board in that house. Maybe someone will find it someday like I found the Missing Thorndike.”
“You didn’t find the Missing Thorndike,” Walt reminded her. “I showed you where I hid it.”
Since her death, Marie had found herself less cognizant of the passage of time. Yet there were instances, like today, when she reminded herself she needed to pay attention. It would be easier if she could wear a watch. While she could conjure up the image of a watch for her wrist, it wouldn’t keep time. So on days like today, this meant popping into the nearest building and looking for a clock.
The reason she needed to keep an eye on the time today was because she wanted to return to the theater before the end of the second feature. She wanted to be with the Hoopers when they left the movies, and hopefully they would be more talkative so she could learn why Marcella had broken into Marlow House.
Marie arrived at the theater about twenty minutes before the end of the second feature. She went directly to where she had left them, sitting near the aisle on row ten. But to her surprise, those seats were now empty. She noticed several noisy teenagers sitting near the aisle on row eleven. She then assumed the Hoopers had moved to other seats.
Standing in the aisle, Marie glanced around the theater and groaned. It was full and dark, and she didn’t relish the thought of looking for them, so she decided it would be far easier to simply go to their car and wait for them there. She knew where they had parked. A few minutes later Marie stood in the parking lot of the theater and was surprised to find the Hoopers’ car was no longer there.
“They already left!” Marie shouted before disappearing and going directly to the Seahorse Motel.
When Marie arrived in the motel parking lot, she was annoyed to discover the Hoopers’ vehicle was nowhere in sight. Grumbling at losing the pair, she went into their motel room, intending to wait for them. The moment she stepped into the room, she found one of the motel maids changing the bedsheets. Looking around for somewhere to sit and stay out of the maid’s way until the Hoopers returned, she discovered something else. The Hoopers’ luggage was no longer in the room. In fact, none of their belongings were in the motel room.
A moment later Marie stood in the motel’s front office. Sam was not behind the counter; instead there was a young woman busily surfing on her cellphone. Marie peeked behind the counter and found the registration book open. She took a look and her suspicions were confirmed. The Hoopers had checked out of the motel.
Thirty-Two
When Marie finally returned to Marlow House late Saturday afternoon, she found Danielle alone, wrapping packages in the parlor. Christmas carols played from a small Bluetooth speaker sitting on a nearby bookshelf, and a pine-scented candle burned in a brass candleholder on the coffee table, filling the room with the scent of Christmas.
“I’m so sorry. I’ve lost them. I can’t find them anywhere!” Marie confessed after entering the parlor. She then plopped down on one of the nearby chairs as if exhausted.
Setting down her scissors, Danielle turned to face Marie. “You lost the Hoopers?”
“It appears they may have left town. Which I suppose is a good thing. But now you may never know why they broke in here.”
“How do you know they left town?”
“I don’t know,” Marie admitted. “I just have to assume that’s what they did. When I went to the theater, they were already gone, and the second movie was still playing. I went back to the motel, and they had checked out. I’ve been all over and can’t find their car anywhere. I have to assume they left town. After all, I heard someone at the motel say all the rooms in Frederickport are full. So they obviously didn’t move to another motel—at least not here.”
Danielle considered Marie’s words and then picked up the scissors. “I suppose that’s entirely possible.” She then went on to tell Marie about their visit with Samuel, while wrapping one of her packages in shiny red gift wrap.
“Imagine that, Eloise lied to Emma about selling the ring,” Marie said after Danielle finished updating her.
Danielle shrugged. “It seems that way. Not sure what Eloise ever did with that ring, but I know it wasn’t in any of those things they put in the trunk, and it looks like the Hoopers must have come to that realization. Who knows, maybe they went back to Astoria to look through the Winterborne house.”
“You mean break in?” Marie asked.
Danielle stopped wrapping a moment and turned to Marie. “They did break in here.”
“I suppose you’re right…should we do something?”
“Not sure what. I already talked to the chief about what Samuel told us. Aside from Mrs. Hooper breaking in here—which there is no way to prove—no laws have been broken. I suppose I could tell whoever is handling the estate that Eloise never sold that ring and they might want to look for it. But the fact is, maybe Eloise did something else with the ring. From what I understand, she had it removed from her inventory list a few years before she died. Do we really want to get involved at this point? It is a lot of speculation.”
“Perhaps I should at least go over to the Winterborne house. Eva’s been hanging out over there the last few days—oh, not the Winterborne house—but over at the film museum in Astoria. I wanted to stop and see Eva, I don’t think she’s coming to the party tonight, and while I’m over there, I might a
s well pop in at the Winterborne house and see if those two are poking around.”
Danielle filled the large paper sack with the Christmas gifts she had wrapped. One was going under the tree—the gift for Adam. The rest she would be taking to the party across the street. Before picking up the bag, she grabbed her cellphone from the desk and tossed it in with the gifts. When she walked into the living room a few minutes later, she found Owen sitting on the sofa, staring blankly ahead, as if lost in thought.
“You ready for the party?” Danielle asked cheerfully as she set the filled paper sack by the tree. Kneeling down, she removed the gift for Adam and tucked it far under the branches of the Christmas tree.
“I don’t think I’m going. It’s really nice of you to invite me, but I have intruded enough on your Christmas,” Owen told her.
Danielle stood up and walked to one of the chairs facing the sofa. She sat down and studied Owen for a moment. “You are more than welcome to come. The more the merrier.”
Owen smiled sadly at Danielle yet said nothing.
After a moment of silence, Danielle asked, “Tell me what’s really wrong.”
“I never mentioned this before. But I used to live in Frederickport,” he told her.
“You did?”
He nodded. “Yes. And I have a feeling I’ll probably know some people at the party tonight. And even if I don’t know anyone tonight, chances are I’ll run into someone I know at your Christmas Eve open house. Which is why I should probably leave town before the party tonight.”
“Why would it be a bad thing to run into someone you know?” Danielle asked.
Owen gave Danielle a shrug and leaned back in the sofa. “It’s not like I have some criminal past—I don’t want you to think that. It’s just that I burned my bridges after I left town, and I doubt some people will be thrilled if they hear I’m back. Why ruin their Christmas?”
