Two Birds with One Stone (A Marsden-Lacey Cozy Mystery Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 21

MARTHA, FEELING SMALL, STUTTERED, “WE were waiting to see
when it was okay to go in.”

Nurse Davis
’
expression implied
she wasn
’
t buying what Martha was selling. She pursed her
lips in distaste and pointed repeatedly with a jabbing motion at where they’d
been sitting. “Ladies, visiting hours are over in ten minutes. You may wait out
by the nurses
’
station.”

Since she wasn
’
t moving, they meekly
backed away and then turned around and walked toward the row of seats they had
left earlier. The girls sat back down like chided children.

“We aren
’
t going to have a chance to
talk with Piers,”
Martha
said.

Helen stared at the door. “We may need to hide somewhere
until she
’
s gone. Visiting hours are almost over and we
need to talk with Piers before tomorrow. If Chief Johns gets hold of those
video files, you can bet he won
’
t want to share with us.”

“Was that Devry
’
s voice we heard?”

“Sure sounded like it.”
Helen was quiet for a second. “What
’
s on those
videos that Devry doesn
’
t want anyone to see?”

“Maybe he
’
s the killer but he’s lying
about it and he
’
s trying to make a deal with Piers. We
need to get in there and feel Piers out. Tomorrow, he might be less willing to
discuss things, if he has time to think about it or if Johns tells him not to.”

They watched the clock above the nurses
’
station get
closer to the six o
’
clock hour. The best plan they hatched
was to wait in the ladies room near the stairwell until the coast was clear.
Then they could make their way into Piers
’
room and hide in
his closet, if a nurse came to check on him.

At ten after six, Louis Devry walked down the hall towards
them. He stopped and said hello but excused himself before they could ask why
he missed his appointment with them.

“He was in a snit,”
Martha said.

“I wonder why?”
Helen smirked.

“We won’t be able to see Piers now. It’s too late.”

“Follow me.”

The girls rose quickly and hurried towards the room. Not
seeing Nurse Davis patrolling the hall anywhere, they found Piers
’
door open.
With great caution, they peeked in to make sure he was alone. There stood Nurse
Davis settling a tray on the moveable bed table. They backed away quietly and
made a beeline towards the ladies room.

“Okay, let
’
s give it ten minutes and
peek out. If it
’
s clear, we go straight to his room. We
’
ll have to be quick and quiet. God knows where that woman will
be,”
Helen
said.

“Our luck she
’
ll need to use the rest
room.”

Helen and Martha froze.

“Really?”
Helen asked.

They heard someone coming toward the door talking loudly.
The girls frantically jumped into one stall and shut the door. Fortunately, the
hospital was an old one from the early twentieth century and not many updates
had been made to the bathrooms. The particular stall they bustled into was more
like a small closet but someone looking from the outside could see an
individual
’
s feet, if they bent down to check if the stall
was occupied.

“Get up on the back of the toilet,”
Helen said. “Hurry.”

Martha scrambled up as high as she could get while Helen
climbed up on the toilet seat. They clamped their hands over their mouths and
waited. Trying not to breathe too loudly, they were as quiet as possible.

The bathroom door swung open and someone clattered around
trying different stalls. Hurriedly, Helen pressed her foot against the stall
door to make sure it wouldn
’
t budge. As if on cue, someone
pushed on their door.

“Why won
’
t it open?”
the voice of Nurse
Davis asked. “Everything in this hospital is falling apart,”
she grumbled. Going
down the line she entered another stall and the door latch clicked.

Helen motioned for Martha to follow her. She opened the
stall door and they crept out of the bathroom with only a small creak from the
door
’
s hinges. As quick as mice, they scuttled into Piers
’
room to find him glowering at a plate full of nasty-looking noodles.

“Hey. What are you two doing here?”
he asked with a big smile spreading
across his face. “You look like you
’
re on the run from the
law. I
’
ll get dressed and you can break me out of this
place. What do you say?”

Martha and Helen dropped into the two chairs across from his
bed and let out two big sighs.

“We
’
ve been playing a game of cat and
mouse with your Ms. Davis.”
Martha fumed. “DCI Johns ought to give her a job at the Constabulary.
She
’
d make an incredible detective.”

“Not to mention a deterrent to crime.”
Helen weighed in
with a laugh.

“
Doesn
’
t seem to
have deterred either of you,”
Piers said with a knowing smile. “It
’
s way past
visiting hours so both of you are in it deep, if she catches you.”

“Let
’
s get down to business then,”
Martha said. “We
brought your soup and we brought your laptop. What say you start sipping on the
one and let us have a look at the other?”

“Martha,”
Helen said taken off guard. “What about being subtle?”

“
We don
’
t have
time for subtleties, Helen. Attila could come in any minute. Piers, the videos
may show who knocked-off Sir Carstons. The police want the videos and it
sounded like Devry has an interest in them as well. We think you ought to look
at them and see who might have tried to take a potshot at you. Whoever it is
has decided Helen and I are dispensable too. What do you say?”

“Give me the laptop,”
Piers commanded, laying down his spoon and a cracker.

They watched him open the security program and log in. He
found the file for the day of the murder.

“The great thing about this system is the surveillance is
always kept in the cloud. Only someone who has the password to my cloud can
access the videos. I
’
ve not shared my password, so all
should be as it was,”
Piers explained.

He clicked on the file for last Friday, the day of Carstons
’
murder. They watched the video load. Piers sipped on his soup. “I love
Mrs. Thyme
’
s soup. The food here is horrific.”

“Spoiled baby,”
Helen teased.

“Look. If you put the video on slow fast-forward we can see
people coming and going all morning. The time is in the right-hand corner.”
Martha reached over
to click on the arrows in the video program
’
s screen.

As the video played, they saw Sir Carstons enter The Grange.
He circumvented the reception desk and looked around furtively. Unhooking the
red rope blocking the way up the grand staircase, he quickly ascended the
stairs and out of camera view.

“What is our friend, Carstons, up to?”
Piers asked
sardonically. “We
’
ll change cameras and see where he
’
s going.”

Piers opened another file from a camera labeled “
Upstairs Hallway.
”
Sir Carstons appeared, walking down the hall and into one of the rooms
to the right. A shadow moved across the floor and a figure came out from
another side room.

“It
’
s Louis Devry. He
’
s
following Carstons,”
Helen
said.

All three peered intently at the video. Soon Carstons came
out of the room carrying a satchel and headed back towards the stairs followed
by Devry. They appeared to be agitated and in a hurry.

Piers switched the camera back to the “Reception Room.”
There they picked
up Carstons coming down the stairs. He was carrying the satchel and Devry
bounded down the stairs behind him apparently shouting at him. Carstons held up
the bag, taunting Devry who made a quick move, whisking it out of Carstons
’
grasp, then leaping behind the reception desk.

Surprised, Carstons leaned over the reception desk and tried
to grab the satchel while Devry leaned as far back as he could to avoid his
grasp.

“Wow. They
’
re going at it,”
Martha said with a
chuckle.

Devry clutched the bag to his chest and pointed his finger
at Carstons, yelling something and pointing toward the door. He reached into
the satchel, dragged out an oversized orange envelope, and then threw the empty
bag at Carstons.

Carstons picked it up and made a stabbing motion with his
index finger while obviously yelling something at Devry. He turned and stalked
out The Grange
’
s front door. The clock on the video said “14:30
Friday.”
Devry
walked out of the room toward the library.

“This seems to be in keeping with what Louis was telling me,”
Piers said. “Sir
Carstons was blackmailing Louis. He knew that Louis had lost his job at Harvard
for some indiscretion and had offered to keep his mouth shut if Louis would
turn a blind eye to Carstons helping himself to a few items of value at The
Grange. According to Louis, Carstons showed up that day to make good his
demand. Louis says he found him in one of the rooms going through some of the
poetry books and hand-bound journals worth an enormous amount of money to crooked
collectors. It was money Carstons sorely needed for legal fees.”
Piers glanced at
Helen.

“What
’
s in the envelope he took out of
the satchel? Is it the poetry journal?”
Martha asked. She had recognized the manila envelope and wondered if it
could possibly be the one Mrs. Thyme found and gave them earlier that day.

“Louis says he took it back to his office. He wanted Helen
to check it out to make sure it wasn
’
t damaged in any way
.
”

“Oh,”
Martha said. Something didn
’
t fit. She shifted
topics. “Carstons left The Grange alive though. I should be arriving in about
thirty minutes and Devry must have been in his office.”

They fast forwarded the video until they saw Martha walk
through the door, peek over the counter then wander down the hallway towards
the library. The time counter showed the minutes ticking by and then they saw
Carstons sneak back into the hall. He moved around the reception desk. The
video jumped and then only the reception area was visible. Sir Carstons had
disappeared into thin air.

“That
’
s odd,”
Helen said. “Where did Carstons go?
Wait. Look. There
’
s Martha and me coming into the room.”

From that point on in the video, everything happened as
expected. Though they replayed the video multiple times, the same section of
the video showing who killed Carstons was gone. It had clearly been removed.

“Someone knows your password, Piers, and they
’
ve
altered the video. Almost everyone in the house last night and the night of the
party had access to your laptop,”
Martha said. “Do you keep a copy of your passwords anywhere?”

“Not where they
’
re easily found.
Someone might have seen where I hide my password book. I
’
m
not sure.”

“Of course,”
Helen said. “Whoever was in your office the night of the party was
probably trying to get to the videos. That
’
s why Martha
was pushed down the stairs because they think she knows or might have an idea
who they are. I think it
’
s Louis Devry. He had every
opportunity and he must have been desperate to get those videos. I think he
’
s our killer and the person who shot you, Piers.”

There was a stunned silence in the room once she finished.
Helen shifted her intense gaze from Piers’
face to Martha
’
s.

Piers pushed away the laptop and sighed. “Louis has already
come here this afternoon and explained himself. Yes, he was aware of the video
surveillance system after the fact, but he wouldn
’
t have
any way to know my password or where to find my password book. As for shooting
me, I don
’
t know. He
’
s a good shot
but he would have had to be an incredible shot. Whoever shot me somehow missed
Lana. The bullet went right over her shoulder and entered here, basically
missing every major organ.”
He pointed to the area around his clavicle.

“Piers, someone was desperate to get you out of the way to
save their own skin. You said it yourself that night. Helen and I heard you as
you came out of your office saying the surveillance system had been installed
and no one but you would have known of its existence. The killer had to have
either overheard your conversation or been a part of it. Since I find it
unlikely that DCI Johns is our murderer, that only leaves Devry,”
Martha argued.

“Hold on Martha,”
Helen joined in, “anyone might have been listening as they came out of
the library and learned of the cameras being installed. The house was full of
people. We heard him talking so others could have, too.”

“No one else has a motive, Helen, well at least not one we
’
re privy to.”

“The question is who would have been able to learn of your
password, be adept at accessing the video software and then editing the video?
Are there back-ups of the video, Piers, stored somewhere?”