Death at the Door (19 page)

June 2—White Gull Inn, Fish Creek, Wisconsin

Lacey lay down to take a nap right after she ate some soup the White Gull Inn staff had delivered. Ann had planned on spending the afternoon with her and didn't want to leave her alone while she slept. Ann connected her laptop to the Internet and answered several e-mails from work. She then settled in to read but could not concentrate on the mystery she had brought with her. The copies of the old letters that Joel had dropped off were calling to her like a siren. She had been intrigued by them the minute Joel had mentioned them. She gave in to temptation and sat down at Lacey's table to read and organize them.

John and Lark came in after their golf game and found Ann deep in her review. They were hot, hungry, and tired from playing eighteen holes and wanted to go get some lunch. Ann waved them away. They knew there was something up when she told them to go have a leisurely lunch at the bar and maybe spend some time watching a golf tournament on TV. John tried to find out what she was up to, but she told him to go away. She insisted on filling him in when Joel and Lacey could hear it as well so she'd only have to go over it once.

June 2—White Gull Inn, Fish Creek, Wisconsin

Lacey's cottage seemed small with Lark, Joel, Russ, Ann, and John crammed into it with her. She had gotten up from her nap with a splitting headache just before Lark and John showed up with two sacks full of pop, beer, and munchies. The sight of all that junk food made her sick to her stomach and as bitchy as Joel had ever seen her. Everyone offered to leave, but the last thing Lacey wanted was to be alone. She asked them to stay and ordered a pitcher of lemonade from room service. She washed down a pain pill with a tall, frosty glass of it as soon as it was delivered.

“I hope you don't mind, but I went through the stacks of old letters Joel left for you and got them organized,” Ann said to Lacey once everyone had settled into the living room. “I wrote down some notes that we can turn into a summary.”

“Fine by me,” Lacey said. “The way I feel right now I would probably never have gotten it done.” Despite the heat, she was curled up in an armchair wearing sweats with a blanket wrapped around her. Her hair was frizzed out around her head and her face was free of makeup. Her naturally pale complexion was even more washed-out, accentuating the dark blue shadows under her eyes and the purple bruise on the left side of her forehead.

Ann was concerned about her but decided not to say anything for fear her mood would get worse. She forced herself to focus on her notes. “There were twenty-one letters from Joshua Williams to Minevra Larsen. They spanned a period of three years between 1938 and 1941. Minevra also saved four letters that she had written to Joshua during the same time period.” Ann looked at John. “If my memory serves me right, Joshua Williams was Rose Gradoute's grandfather.”

John nodded.

Ann looked at Joel. “Minevra Larsen is Paul Larsen's grandmother?”

Joel nodded.

“All the letters from Joshua were mailed from the same Chicago address. They were only sent during the winter months. None were postmarked during June, July, or August, which makes me wonder if Joshua spent summers up here with his family and commuted back and forth to Chicago for work the rest of the year.”

“That wouldn't have been unusual for a businessman as rich as Williams was,” Joel said.

“It is clear from both sets of letters that Joshua and Minevra were having an affair. In fact, she became pregnant and had their child in 1939. Their child was named Robert Larsen. I'm assuming he was the father of the deceased Paul Larsen.”

“The sheriff and I concluded the same thing,” Joel said.

“Well, I'll be damned,” John said. “I never had a clue.”

“Having a mistress on the side and getting her pregnant probably wouldn't have been unusual for a guy like Williams back then,” Russ said.

“It wouldn't be that unusual today,” Lacey quipped.

“It gets better,” Ann said. “Joshua wrote three letters in 1939 begging Minevra to have the baby and marry him. He even had a plan worked out. Since Hyacinth loved Door County, he thought they could get a divorce and she could keep the house up here. He decided that he and Minevra could get married and move to Chicago, where it didn't seem to matter if you were divorced.”

“What happened?” Lacey asked.

“She turned him down. Joshua must have given her back some letters that she wrote him. There's one here that she wrote just after the baby was born. She made it clear that she thought divorce was a sin and could not live with herself if she was the cause of Joshua and Hyacinth breaking up and Camellia going through the humiliation of losing her father.”

“So it was acceptable to screw around with a married man and have his baby, but it wasn't okay to get a divorce?” Lacey said.

Everyone heard the acid tone of her voice and chose not to respond.

“Why didn't they just use the telephone instead of writing all these letters?” Russ asked. “It's awfully hard to deny something happened if you put it on paper.”

“Party lines,” John said. “I'm sure their telephones were on party lines, so you never knew when someone might be listening in. In fact, Minevra and Hyacinth were probably on the same line.”

“Makes sense.” Russ nodded.

“After 1939, Minevra's letters were full of news about her baby and Camellia. It appeared as if she spent more time taking care of Camellia than she did acting as a maid to Hyacinth. Joshua gave her the gatehouse and set up a trust for her so she'd be taken care of for the rest of her life. In her last letter to Joshua she expressed her gratitude to him for providing for her and the baby.”

“Do you suppose Rose Gradoute knew that Paul was a relative from the wrong side of the blanket?” Lark asked.

“Daisy made it very clear that Rose opposed her dating Paul. That's why she tried to keep her affair with him a secret,” Joel said.

“My God, if Rose knew about Paul and about Daisy dating him, don't you think she would have said something?” Lacey asked. “Her sister was dating her own cousin.”

“We don't know if Rose or Paul knew they were cousins. I can't imagine that they'd date each other if they knew they were related. I'm going to ask Paul's ex-wife about that when I go to the funeral,” Joel said.

“Do you think Rose would have killed Paul over this?” Ann asked.

“We know Rose was angry with him for opposing the B-and-B and about the red carnival,” John said.

“She doesn't sound like the type who would take the risk of attacking him on the golf course,” Lark said. “She'd use something a little more subtle. Something guaranteed to get the job done with minimal risk to herself.”

“She doesn't have an alibi for Paul's death,” Joel said.

Ann glanced back down at her notes. “Before we get off the subject, there's something else in the letters that is very interesting. Joshua makes four separate references to iridescent glass. That's one of the names used for carnival glass when it was first made. Each reference seems to be in response to something Minevra asked him. We don't have access to those letters to see her questions. In one letter he says, ‘I know you feel guilty about that barrel of cheap iridescent glass, but Iris and Hyacinth already have too much of it scattered all over the house.' In another letter he says, ‘Just keep the glass because Iris and Hyacinth have more than enough of the wretched stuff.'”

Ann shifted to another page of notes. “In one of her letters Minevra recalls her uncle Ludwig and Thomas Lee rolling a barrel of glass up the stairs to the attic. That barrel of old carnival has to be somewhere in the Gradoute House attic.”

John shook his head. “The attic was crammed full of old furniture and boxes that Rose and Simon put in storage. Surely they would have found it when they unloaded the attic. It's down to the original studs and we didn't find an old barrel up there.”

“Could there be a false wall or a secret room up there?” Ann asked.

“Ann, this isn't one of those mystery novels you like to read. I didn't find any secret passages or hidden staircases. There weren't any false walls. Those letters are more than sixty years old. Carnival glass was nearly worthless in the early 1940s. I'm sure someone found the barrel of glass back then and sold it or gave it away.”

“You're probably right.” Ann's face showed the disappointment she felt. She folded her notes together and nodded at Joel. “I'll type up this summary and get you and Lacey a copy tomorrow. I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat.”

Everyone offered to stay with Lacey, but she told them she just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. Ann and John decided to get pizza and rent a movie. Russ, Joel, and Lark were tired of going out to eat. They agreed to meet at Lark's suite at 8
P.M
. to watch a ball game. Russ agreed to bring the pizza and Joel was assigned to bring the beer.

June 2—Edgewater Resort, Ephraim, Wisconsin

Joel and Russ showed up right on the dot at 8
P.M
. Their pizza and beer combined with the bag of munchies Lacey had insisted Lark take with him when he left gave them a feast for the gods. They settled in to watch a Cubs game and talk about the case.

“I had a response from another auction house when I checked my e-mail tonight,” Russ told them. “It looks like Sabatini Fine Antique Sales in San Francisco sold several of the carnival glass pieces as well as some of the other glass and pottery at one of their estate auctions in late March. All the items were produced in quantity, but they are rare enough that seventy-six pieces from our list in one auction from one seller can't be a coincidence. They were put up for auction by a woman who was selling items from her deceased grandmother's estate. Our thieves cleared $322,450 at this one auction. That makes about forty percent of the stuff on the list is now sold with a take of over eight hundred thousand. I sent them an e-mail requesting more information. I should have something back by Monday, maybe even tomorrow if they're open on Sunday.”

“Damnation.” Joel shook his head. “I just can't figure out how someone can get in and out of this many houses sight unseen and not leave a trace.”

Lark took a sip of his beer. “I've been thinking a lot about it, and it wouldn't be that hard to do if you knew a lot about antiques and also knew the area. This guy is smart and his partner knows the auction house game. This isn't the first time they've done this.”

“Antique theft isn't that uncommon so he probably has done it before,” Russ said. “If he lives up here, he hasn't been caught at it or we'd have already found him with our background checks.”

“We've still got the two housekeepers who have worked for all three cleaning agencies to check out,” Joel said. “I have to get that done for Lacey tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow's Sunday,” Lark said.

“I'll be working,” Joel said. “I've still got four people to interview on the Paul Larsen list.”

“The people you need to question probably won't be working,” Lark said.

“All the better to find them and get their interview over with. Shit!”

Russ and Lark jumped when Joel yelled.

“I've got to be at the nursing home at eight
A.M
. to interview Minevra Larsen with Skewski.” Joel's cell phone rang and he went outside to talk to his wife.

He came back inside fifteen minutes later. “This case is going to be the death of me or my marriage, I'm not sure which.”

“What's going on?” Lark asked.

“Could you do that interview with Skewski tomorrow morning? I really need to spend the day at home with Molly and the kids. The rest of the interviews can wait another day.”

“Give me directions and I'll be there. I can also knock off a couple of your interviews if you leave me the addresses and phone numbers.” Lark got up to grab the phone. “I'll call John and cancel our golf game.”

“Ah, I think you should call them in the morning,” Joel said. “They just turned out their lights and I think they have other things on their mind.” Russ and Lark gave him a curious look.

“I was out on the deck talking to Molly. Ann and John left their kitchen window open, so there wasn't much left to the imagination.”

Lark put the phone back down. “Thanks, Joel. There's an image I didn't need or want.”

Joel shrugged and gave Lark written instructions to the nursing home. “Lacey has the information on the rest of the interviews. You can get it from her tomorrow if you decide you want to do them. Whatever you do, don't let her take any of them. She has to see Gene on Monday before she's cleared to go back to work.”

“I wouldn't dream of letting her do any work tomorrow.”

“I'm driving to Wausau tonight. I'll be there tomorrow and go to Larsen's funeral on Monday. Call me on my cell phone if anything new turns up.”

Russ and Lark settled in to watch the last inning of the game.

“I really admire how Joel keeps it all together,” Russ said. “I tried it three times and couldn't make it work.”

“Molly and Joel are devoted to each other and their kids. No matter what he says, I don't think anything could come between them.”

“What's the story with you and Lacey?” Russ asked.

Lark crossed his arms over his chest and watched the ball game as if he hadn't heard Russ's question. He spoke just as Russ was getting ready to ask him again. “We're friends and colleagues.” He turned to face Russ, his eyes boring into him. “Why do you ask?”

Russ stared back, meeting Lark's eyes. “If you two are dating, I don't want to cut in.”

Lark turned back to the ball game.

“Are you two seeing each other?”

“No.”

“Did you go out in the past?”

“No.”

“Then I'm going to ask her out.”

“It's a free country,” Lark replied, his lips compressed into a thin line.

Russ left as soon as the game was over.

Lark cleaned up his kitchen and went to bed. He set his alarm for 6:30
A.M
. and turned out his light. He tossed and turned most of the night as images of Lacey and Russ flashed through his head.