by J A Whiting
“Our opinion matches yours,” Angie said with a smile. “Chief Martin is one of the very good guys.”
“I’m usually a decent judge of character, but sometimes people can pull the wool over your eyes.” Maura looked at the boats bobbing in the harbor. “Such a pretty place.”
“What did you want to say to Chief Martin?” Angie questioned.
Maura turned her dark brown eyes to Angie. “I wanted to know what happened to Perry. I wanted to know what the investigation had discovered.”
“Did he tell you?” Jenna asked.
“I’m not next-of-kin and I was no longer dating Perry so the chief wasn’t inclined to share much with me,” Maura said, “but he was kind enough to tell me some things. The boarding house owner, Maribeth, asked you for help the morning she found Perry unconscious?”
“She did,” Angie said. “I was with a family friend. When we arrived at the boarding house, Maribeth was distraught. She asked us to see Perry.”
Maura stopped walking and faced the sisters, and they moved to the side so as not to block the walkway. “How did he look? Was he breathing? Was he alive when you saw him?”
“I’m not medically trained,” Angie said. “Perry felt cold. He was pale. I tried to find a pulse, but….” She gave a shrug. “I began chest compressions and my friend called the emergency number for an ambulance.”
Maura’s chest visibly rose and fell as her lips quivered slightly. “Did Perry respond in anyway?”
Angie shook her head.
“Megan Milton was there?” Maura asked. “She helped?”
“We took turns doing the compressions,” Angie told her. “You know Megan?”
“I had a small apartment in Silver Cove when I was in med school, but I spent a good amount of time at the boarding house with Perry. I studied there, ate there, stayed over sometimes. Perry and I took turns staying at each other’s places. I was familiar with Maribeth and the boarders,” Maura said.
“Are you and Megan friendly?” Jenna asked.
Maura sighed and rolled her eyes. “As friendly as you can be with someone who is after your boyfriend.”
Angie indicated a small park with a few benches facing the water and they went to sit. “Megan was interested in Perry?”
“She pretended they were just pals.” Maura narrowed her brown eyes. “But she couldn’t hide that she was very attracted to Perry.”
“Did you talk to Perry about her?” Jenna questioned.
“I brought it up, yeah. Perry would blow it off. I honestly didn’t feel comfortable with Megan living in the room across from Perry. I trusted him, but she was always bouncing in, stopping by, asking him to make dinner with her, asking him to study with her.”
“Did you ever talk to Megan about her behavior?”
“There was no point. If I did, she would have gotten defensive and Perry would have been annoyed that I confronted her. There was no winning so I kept quiet,” Maura said. “Anyway, people are going to do what they’re going to do. You can’t force someone to stay with you. You have to take the good with the bad and hope for the best. And like I said, from the beginning, I didn’t think Perry and I had a future together.”
The young women watched a sailboat head out of the harbor moving gracefully past the other boats.
“Why did you think there was no future?” Jenna asked Maura.
“Perry was single-minded, focused like a laser on his studies, on his work. The work was number one. I wasn’t even number two. I was a very distant number three.”
“What was number two?” Angie asked.
“You know Perry had headaches?” When Angie and Jenna nodded, Maura went on. “They were severe. He had them fairly often. Taking care of himself was his second obsession. He was very attentive to his health, he was very careful about what he ate, he made sure he exercised each day and got enough sleep. If he missed too much at school, he would have fallen too far behind and he wasn’t going to do that. Perry was determined. He was going to be a doctor.” Maura shrugged. “School and his health. Everything else came after those two things and a lot of the time, he had no energy to give to anything but school and taking care of himself. I knew all of this when I started dating him.”
“Why did you bother dating Perry?” Angie asked. “There must have been other med students who were open to developing a relationship.”
Maura stretched her legs out in front of her. “I think because I’m a lot like Perry. I’m determined as well. The schooling, the residency, all the training … becoming a doctor is not for the faint of heart. It’s grueling, relentless work. I dated Perry as an outlet, to relax, to have a little fun. I knew he wouldn’t demand anything of me. He was safe.” Maura looked pointedly at the two sisters. “But that didn’t mean I was okay with someone like Megan trying to push me aside and move in on Perry.”
“Why did you break up?”
“I was moving to Boston for the residency,” Maura said. “It would never work out with me in Boston and Perry up here. We both knew that.”
“Was it an amicable parting of the ways?” Jenna asked.
“It was. Even though I knew that’s how it would end, it was still sad.” Maura’s face looked thoughtful.
“Your field is anesthesiology?” Jenna asked.
“That’s the goal.” Maura’s mouth turned up a little. “If I make it.”
“You mentioned knowing the other residents in the boarding house,” Angie said. “How did you get on with them? Did you get to know them?”
“Somewhat. Everyone would get together for dinner at least once a week. Sometimes the group would watch a movie together, or do a puzzle, play cards.”
“What did you think of them?”
“Roger and Mary, they’re the older people in the house, they got on each other’s nerves a lot,” Maura said with a smile. “I could never figure out if they just enjoyed fussing at each other or if they had an actual dislike for one another.”
“Did they get along with Perry?” Angie asked.
“Mary did. Roger had a persnickety personality that sometimes Perry tired of. But Perry never let on he was annoyed with the man.”
“Do you know Andy Hobbs?” Jenna asked.
“I know him, sure. He lived in the boarding house.”
“What do you think of him?”
Maura raised an eyebrow. “Andy is full of himself, loves himself actually. We could joke around, but he isn’t someone I’d want as a friend. Too selfish, too arrogant.”
Angie nodded and asked, “Did Megan take part in the games or watching the movie with the group?”
Maura gave a sly smile. “If Perry was there, then she’d be there, too.”
“How about Maribeth?” Angie asked. “Did she join in?”
“Oh, sure.”
“And did she get along well with Perry?” Jenna asked.
Maura hesitated for a few moments. “She did, but sometimes Maribeth picked at Perry, giving him digs once in a while about not helping out enough at the boarding house.”
Angie looked confused. “Why would she expect Perry to help out?”
“Perry got a slight discount on the rent because when he moved in, he agreed to do some things around the house to get a break on the cost of living there,” Maura said. “Maribeth didn’t think he was doing enough to get the discount so she raised his rent. Perry was annoyed about that, and Maribeth was annoyed that he was annoyed. I guess it’s not unusual for people to bicker when they live in close quarters.”
“Did Chief Martin ask you if you suspect someone in Perry’s death?” Jenna asked.
Maura took in a quick breath. “He did ask.”
“What was your answer?” Angie asked.
Looking down at her hands, Maura didn’t answer right away. “I told the chief I wasn’t sure of anything, but Megan keeps popping into my mind. She fell for Perry and he didn’t reciprocate her affection. Did she lose it that night? Did she get so angry that she decided to….”
“Did Perry self-medicate for his headaches?” Angie asked. “Did he have the drugs in his room? Did he inject himself sometimes when he got a bad headache?”
Maura swallowed hard and flicked her eyes over the garden flowers. “If Perry did that, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that he would have been kicked out of school for injecting himself with medication. Perry was a medical student, he was not yet a doctor.”
Angie watched Maura’s face. “So you don’t know if he did or not?”
“I told him never to do it when I was around or I’d have to report him,” Maura said. “I turned a blind eye to what he might have needed to do to function.”
“Did you ever help Perry with the drugs?” Angie asked.
Maura’s eyes flashed. “No. I wasn’t going to get into trouble over it. I wasn’t going to jeopardize my future should the school think I was complicit if Perry self-medicated.”
Jenna shifted slightly on the bench to face Maura. “Then Perry did use injections to treat himself.”
Maura crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to say anything about that one way or the other.”
And by Maura not replying to the question, Angie and Jenna knew the answer.
12
The sun had only been up for a short time when Angie placed the boxes of muffins, rolls, scones, and a coffee cake on the boarding house’s kitchen counter while Maribeth took out some platters from the cabinet.
“Ellie sent over an egg, cheese, and onion quiche and a pot of beef stew,” Angie gestured to the items she’d brought in from the car on her first trip inside.
“Oh, gosh. Please tell her thank you from me,” Maribeth said. “You’ve all been so nice. I appreciate it. I just don’t feel like cooking anymore.”
“Your energy will come back when it’s ready,” Angie smiled at the woman. “Wait and see.”
“I’m tired all the time.” Maribeth removed the muffins and rolls and set them in a basket.
“It will pass eventually.” Angie gave Maribeth a kind pat on the shoulder.
“I feel so guilty that someone died in my house.” Maribeth’s voice hitched.
“It’s not your fault,” Angie said. “You did everything you could possibly do to keep the boarders safe.”
Maribeth nodded her head, but Angie knew her words hadn’t comforted the woman … only the passing of time would manage to lessen her sadness and guilt.
“I’m going to the basement to toss in some laundry and do some ironing,” Maribeth said. “There’s fresh brewed coffee in the pot. Help yourself. Stay as long as you like, and thanks again for your kindness.”
Chief Martin had asked Angie to talk to any of the boarders she ran into when delivering pastries and sweets to the boarding house so she poured some coffee and sat at the kitchen island hoping someone would come for breakfast. In less than ten minutes, Andy Hobbs walked in wearing sweatpants with his hair askew and his eyes looking sleepy. He stopped short and stared at Angie for a few seconds.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Angie smiled and said, “Good morning. I made a delivery. Maribeth put everything out on the counter.”
“Excellent.” Andy grabbed a plate and filled it. “I love your stuff.” He poured coffee and took a stool at the island next to Angie.
After a few minutes of conversation, Andy said, “The police haven’t figured out what happened to Perry yet.”
“It was an overdose of medication,” Angie told him.
“I heard that at school.” The nursing school Andy attended was in the same building as the medical school Perry studied at. “Everyone’s talking about it. But what actually happened? Did he give himself the overdose or did someone give it to him? And if he did give himself the meds, did he give too much accidentally or on purpose? I heard there’s a suicide note.”
Angie didn’t want to confirm or deny the existence of the note. “I heard that as well.”
“What do you think happened? You think Perry killed himself?”
“I didn’t know him,” Angie said. “But from what I’ve heard about his drive and ambition, I wouldn’t think he wanted to end his life.”
Andy shrugged as he buttered his scones. “Maybe Perry didn’t think he had what it takes to be a doctor and he fell into despair.”
“You think so?” Angie swiveled the stool a little to face Andy. “Did you think Perry was acting differently than usual?”
“I don’t know the inner workings of someone’s brain.” Andy bit into the scone.
“Do you think Perry was depressed?”
“Hard to tell. The guy was always working. Well, not always, but he often seemed distracted, like he was thinking about his work all the time.”
“Did you interact with him much?” Angie asked.
“Not a ton. He was in his room a lot. He always struck me as kind of arrogant,” Andy said with a frown. “I got the impression he thought he was better than everyone because he was in med school.”
“What gave you that feeling?”
“I tried to strike up conversations with him, but he seemed reluctant to engage with me. I don’t know. Just my impression. Maybe it had nothing to do with what we were each studying. Maybe it was a personality conflict.”
“Did you argue?”
“Nothing like that. Perry wasn’t that friendly, at least not to me.” Andy dipped a piece of his scone in his coffee mug. “I did like his old girlfriend though. She was funny. We could joke around together. She had a good sense of humor.”
“Do you think Perry might have been jealous of you? Of your easy friendship with his girlfriend?” Angie questioned.
“Never thought of it that way.” Andy smiled. “I hope he was jealous. Maura was too good for him. He didn’t give her enough attention.”
Angie cocked her head to the side. “Maybe Maura didn’t want any more than what she got from Perry.”
“That wasn’t it. Maura told me she wished Perry would be more serious about the relationship. She wanted a commitment … or at least, the idea of a commitment down the line.”
“I met Maura recently,” Angie said. “She told me she didn’t want a serious relationship. It wasn’t the time for something like that. She had to focus on her residency.”
Andy made eye contact with the young woman sitting next to him. “Maura’s telling you a tale.”
“Maybe she told you a tale,” Angie countered.
Andy let out a chuckle. “Maura and I were friendly. I knew her for a while before she moved to Boston for her residency. I think she’d be more upfront with me than with you.”
“Could be.” Angie sipped her coffee. “Was there anyone you can think of who might want Perry dead?”
“Me,” Andy smirked and when Angie gave him a look, he said, “Kidding. I wouldn’t have minded dating Maura, but she was out of the picture by the time Perry died. I hadn’t seen her for a while.”
“You could call her,” Angie suggested.
“Whatever. That ship has sailed.” Andy got up to fill his cup.
“Can you think of anyone besides yourself who might want Perry dead?” Angie asked.
“A lot of people thought Perry was a nice guy, but there were some who thought differently. The guy wasn’t much of a team player. He wasn’t helpful to his cohort. Everything was a competition with him and he was going to be the best. He clashed with one student in particular. That’s the rumor anyway.”
Angie’s ears perked up. “Who was the student?”
“Another guy. Charles something or other.”
“How did they clash?”
“I don’t have details. Anyway, who knows. The police will figure it out one of these days, if they ever get off their duffs.” Andy took another muffin and headed to the hallway. “I gotta get going.”
Angie was not sorry to see Andy leave for his classes. He struck her as insensitive and a little arrogant, and almost like he had a chip on his shoulder. A housemate had just passed away, but it
didn’t seem to bother Andy Hobbs one bit. Angie wondered what sort of nurse he would make if he couldn’t show a little empathy for someone’s misfortune.
When Angie closed the bake shop for the day and went into the Victorian’s adjoining kitchen, she greeted the cats who arched their backs into big stretches.
“They were snoozing on the fridge,” Courtney said from her seat at the kitchen table. “I’m surprised they got up to say hello to you.”
“That’s because I’m their favorite,” Angie patted the felines’ heads.
“Sorry to break it to you, sis, but I think Mr. Finch is their favorite,” Courtney joked. “But if it makes you happy, you can pretend they like you best.”
“They can have two favorites,” Angie smiled and removed her apron.
“Did you talk to anyone at the boarding house this morning?” Courtney asked. “Were you able to corral anyone there?”
Angie told her sister about her conversation with Andy Hobbs and then told her that she didn’t like the man. “He’s very insensitive.”
“I got the same impression of him when I met him the other day.” Courtney said, “So what are you thinking about all of this? We found a cap to a syringe in Perry’s room, well, Circe found it. And Maura implied to you that Perry was self-medicating. If that’s the case, the drugs and the syringes must have been in Perry’s room and his friends must have known they were there. It would be easy for someone to sneak in and inject him with an overdose while Perry was sleeping.”
“What’s the motivation though?” Angie asked. “That’s the key. Once we can answer that, then we’ll probably know who the killer is.”
“He didn’t kill himself,” Courtney said. “If we focus on that, we’ll go down the wrong path.” She reached into a folder she had on the table next to her and took out a piece of paper. “This a printout of the note that was on Perry’s laptop. I’ve been reading it over and over.”
Angie looked at the paper with interest. “And?”
“And from what people have said about Perry, I don’t think he wrote this.”
