Angel Sleuth (8 page)

“Oh, hi there. You sure are great on the piano.”

Her smile grew broader, her blue eyes friendly but their expression was vague.

“I like to play. Music is my life now. There used to be more, but I forget what it was. There’s just my piano now.”

“Where do you live here?”

She looked confused for a moment, then pointed toward the Alzheimer’s wing of the building.

“What are these?” She opened her hand to show Kaitlin several pills held in her palm. “Could you find out? They told me these were pills to lower my cholesterol, but they don’t look like the ones I’m used to taking.”

Kaitlin hesitated, then reached out for them.

“Lily, get back to your room.” Toliver strode up to them and started to walk Lily down the hall.

“I can find my own way.” She shrugged off his hand and set off toward her room.

“What did she want?” Not a pleasant question, a demanding one.

“Oh, nothing much. Just to introduce herself and say good-bye.”

She didn’t know if Toliver believed her, but for the second time that night, he warned her away from one of the residents.

“Lily has Alzheimer’s. You can’t believe a thing she says. She’s crazy, delusional at best.”

Kaitlin was sure Alzheimer’s didn’t fall into the category of crazy or delusional, but she didn’t let on what she knew about it. Correcting Toliver or even suggesting he might be mistaken could only result in greater defensiveness toward her, and that wouldn’t help Lily. She decided another approach might get her more information.

“Uhm, so those letters Leda received about thefts in the facility here were probably the writings of other demented folks?”

Toliver’s Adam’s apple worked up and down in his neck, in what looked like fear to Kaitlin, but he recovered his composure by coughing into his hand.

“It happens all the time. The elderly often think staff and other residents are stealing their possessions. And it’s just not true at all. Usually we find the person misplaced the item or hid it.”

“Hid it. On purpose? Why would they want to hide it?”

“To get attention, obviously. I’m just a little concerned that this person or these persons wrote to Leda at the paper. Do you know who they were?”

“No. The letters weren’t signed, but I think Leda was concerned. She kept the letters in her files.”

“Well, no reason to worry about it. The mind doesn’t work so well when we get older. We think all kinds of odd things. I’m sure Leda wasn’t that concerned. As a trained ombudsman, she knew not to take these allegations seriously.”

Toliver hurried her toward the door, opened it, and nudged her through it.

He lied to me.
Something was going on here, and Leda knew it. Was Leda’s knowledge deadly for her?

Kaitlin opened the door to her car and slid into the seat. The overhead light in the car illuminated a slip of folded paper lying on the passenger’s seat. The one line of writing on it read: “I need to meet with you. Meet me at the staff entrance on Saturday night. Nine o’clock.”

Now she had two concrete reasons to be concerned about what was happening at ARC. The second one rested in her hand, two of the pills Lily was able to slip to her before Toliver ran her off. Kaitlin was certain Toliver didn’t see the sleight of hand. She looked at them in the dim light of the car and could make out two numbers on each of the, an eight and a one. Eighty-one. Low dosage aspirin, and that was no cholesterol drug.

Sleep? She couldn’t find it that night. Worry about Lily’s switched medication and excitement the pills might point to the person doing the stealing kept her awake. She assumed she’d get some answers the next night when she met with the author of the note found in her car, but the anticipation was like an additional jolt of caffeine, leaving her nerves tingling. Her confusion over how all these events related to Leda’s death gave her further cause to engage in sleepless tossing on her mattress. She pounded the pillow until down came out in puffs of tickly feathers and tossed it on the floor.

She had to talk to someone about her evening. Too late to call her mother, Zack was out of the picture, and Mary Jane was off somewhere with Jeremy. By the time her roomies returned, after midnight, Kaitlin had changed her mind, convincing herself that any mother who kept her son out that late was a poor choice for talking with about thievery or murder. Kaitlin gave her other pillow a slam of her fist, loosening a seam. Down descended on her head and she began to sneeze.

“You okay?” shouted Mary Jane from down the hall.

“Fine. Go to sleep or you’ll keep Jeremy awake with all your yelling.” Someone had to show concern for the boy, Kaitlin said to herself. She threw that pillow to the floor where it joined its mate. I’ll buy fiberfill tomorrow, she vowed. Bird feathers reminded her of work she hadn’t finished on her book as well as the geese foreshadowing Leda’s death. She was feeling cursed by anything avian.

* * *

Much too soon sunlight crept through her window, rushed across the feather-strewn floor, and danced warm sparkles on her eyelids, but she resisted the pull of morning, threw her arm across her eyes, and dozed again. By the time she showered and came downstairs, Mary Jane and Jeremy had already left. The coffee in the pot was cold, so she decided to go to the café.

At the Cappuccino Café, she spied Brittany at the counter ordering a latte.

“Hey,” she called to Brittany. “What’s up?”

This morning Brittany looked like a teenager. Her hair was pulled back with a brown scarf, and she had on Capris and white Keds. The only make-up she wore was a pink lip gloss.

“You look like you’re about fourteen,” said Kaitlin. They grabbed a table at the window.

“And you look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“Thanks. I take my compliment back.”

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m out of sorts over this will thing.”

As Brittany was about to explain her statement, Kaitlin noticed Leda’s nephew enter the café and step to the counter to order. He attracted Brittany’s attention also, and she put her nose in the air and sniffed as if she’d caught an offensive odor.

“I don’t much care for her nephew. I guess I know too much about him from Leda. None of it good.”

Will looked in their direction and made his way across the crowded café toward them.

“Oh, no.” groaned Brittany.

Before he could take a seat, a regular in the café, Lester Darby, owner of the largest contracting company in the area, grabbed his arm.

“We’ve been saved by Lester, never one to miss an opportunity to make a buck,” said Kaitlin.

“Good. I was about to go to the ladies’ room and leave you here alone.”

“Go ahead. I can listen in on what they’re saying by myself.”

There was no need to snoop because Lester’s voice carried to every corner of the room.

“Rumor says you’re a rich man. Sorry to hear about your aunt, but I understand she left you her entire estate. We’re all hoping you’ll be persuaded to build a summer home here.”

“C’mon,” said Brittany. She grabbed Kaitlin’s arm and all but yanked her out of her chair.

Once outside, Kaitlin grabbed her friend’s arm to halt further retreat. “What is with you this morning?”

“There’s got to be another will,” said Brittany.

“Maybe not. Leda could have been mad at her nephew then gotten over it. He was her only relative. Who else would she leave her money to?”

“To a charity maybe. And she was more than mad at him. She had reason not to leave him anything. She found out he was into gambling, and she knew she’d be feeding his habit with her money. I’m sure there’s another will.”

“We’ll have to look for it then.” Kaitlin’s hand flew to her lips. “What did I just say?”

Brittany stared at her friend, a look of total astonishment on her face. “You’ve got an idea?”

“I need eight hours of sleep to function, and I certainly didn’t get that last night. I’ve stalled out on writing my book, but Leda’s death has sent me down a path I can’t seem to veer from. It’s as if I have to set my book aside and take over where she left off. Isn’t that odd?”
Or was it
, thought Kaitlin as Mary Jane’s name jumped into her head.

* * *

Brittany used her key to let them into the back door of the newspaper building. Once inside Leda’s office, Kaitlin slid into the desk chair and turned on the computer while Brittany hovered over her.

“Grab a seat,” said Kaitlin. “This may take a while.”

She waited until the icons appeared, then clicked on “My Documents.” The folders she encountered appeared to be related to Leda’s newspaper column and nothing else, but she surveyed the files in each folder. The room grew stuffy as she worked. Brittany opened a window, but the wind was from the other direction, and the air remained hot.

“I’ll read for a while,” said Brittany. She moved her chair in front of the computer and took over for Kaitlin. “Tell me about your visit to ARC last evening. I can scan these and listen at the same time,” she said.

As Kaitlin talked about the odd response from ARC’s director, Lily’s pills, and the note in her car, air from the open window began to cool the room.

“That’s better,” said Brittany. She pushed her damp bangs off her face and continued to read the documents and listen. When Kaitlin told her about the meeting for that night, Brittany paused in her work. “You should have someone go with you. I would, but I’ve got a date tonight. Ask Mary Jane, why don’t you?”

“She’ll probably be playing pool. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Brittany sat back in her chair. “There’s nothing here.” Her shoulders drooped as did the perky look of earlier in the morning.

“I guess Leda used her computer only for newspaper-related work, nothing personal. Unless… Move over.”

Kaitlin hit “Internet Explorer” and clicked on “Favorites,” the web sites Leda visited frequently or thought important enough to mark for future reference. Toward the end of the list a number of sites appeared that Kaitlin didn’t recognize.

“Do you know what these are?” she asked Brittany.

“Nope.”

She moved the mouse to Socrates.com and hit “Go.” She and Brittany exchanged looks as the site loaded.

“Now we’re on to something,” she said.

“These are sites offering forms for constructing wills using the internet. For a price, an individual could either download an appropriate form or have it delivered through the mail,” Brittany said.

“Leda was interested enough to have explored at least four websites on writing wills.”

“And I doubt the research was for her column,” said Brittany. “Kaitlin, you’re brilliant.”

“Yeah, but no matter how she did it, she’d need to have it witnessed. Who would Leda choose for that?”

The back door slammed. Both of the women’s heads jerked up and turned toward the sound.

“Who’s there?” called Brittany. Kaitlin clicked off the internet.

No one answered.

“I’m going to see what’s going on,” said Brittany.

“Careful.”

“Right.” Brittany looked around the office and her glance settled on a ceramic vase sitting on the window sill. She picked it up and headed out into the hall. Kaitlin followed.

“I’ve got your back,” Kaitlin said.

Without windows and no lights on, the hallway was shadowed. The rear door was closed as they’d left it when they entered earlier. They approached the door and stopped, neither willing to open it and pursue whoever might have let it slam when leaving. Suddenly the knob turned. Brittany stepped to one side and raised the vase over her head. The door opened, and Delbert stepped in.

“Damn, Delbert,” said Brittany. “I almost crushed your skull. What are you doing creeping around here today anyway?”

“I’m the editor of this paper, remember? Who left this door open? Anyone could have come in here.” Delbert grabbed a hanky out of his pocket and wiped sweat off his face. “You nearly gave me a coronary.”

“Oh dear, I guess I left the door unlocked when we came in,” said Brittany.

“Just a minute ago we heard the door slam. That wasn’t you, was it?” asked Kaitlin.

“Nope. I just got here. When I tried the knob, it turned. Wind must have caught the door. And what are you doing here anyway?”

“Working,” they said in unison.

“Well, keep the door locked,” he said. His tone was momentarily admonishing, but then he smiled, his round cheeks bulging out like a chipmunk pouching walnuts. “Such dedicated employees.” He flipped on the hallway lights and walked into his office.

“I know someone was in here. Who was it if not Delbert?” asked Brittany.

“Maybe some kid snooping around?” Kaitlin opened the door and stuck her head out into the alley. Sunlight reflecting off purple satin caught her eye as someone ducked behind a dumpster at the end of the passage. She thought she knew who was spying on them in the hallway, but she decided Brittany didn’t need to know her suspicions…at least not now anyway. “Ready to go?” she asked.

“I’ll grab my jacket,” said Brittany.

Brittany twisted the door knob to make certain it was locked when they left.

“We need to find Leda’s will. It looks like she hid it well. Don’t you think it’s odd she chose not to use her lawyer and, aside from her comments to me, she appeared to have told no one about a new will?”

“Besides you, who might Leda confide in?” asked Kaitlin. She turned her head to look back down the alley toward the dumpster, but she didn’t see anyone there.

“Nobody in town. But she did have a lot of friends at ARC. You might want to ask them. Without being too obvious, of course.”

“How come I’m doing all the work?”

“You have the contacts, that’s all.”

“Right.”

“Call me tomorrow and let me know about your meeting with the mysterious note leaver.”

When they got to the street, Brittany waved goodbye.

Kaitlin hesitated for a moment, then walked down the street past the newspaper office, turned between the buildings, and reentered the alley from the other side of the dumpster. The shadows from the taller buildings this far down the alley cast shadows that wrapped the area in darkness. A large recycling bin blocked her view of the dumpster, but it also made it impossible for anyone hiding there to see her approach. She had to check her hunch about who was curious enough to spy on Brittany and her.