Seeds of Deception (23 page)

“I would agree with that. Can we go inside now?”

“Yes,” Meg said firmly. “We have work to do.”

Meg went back inside, followed by Seth, and after hanging up the coat she had borrowed, made a beeline for the kitchen. She was colder than she had realized: her hands were shaking and her nose was running. But at least her head was clearer. “You want some tea?” she asked Seth.

“Sure.” He settled himself at the banquette and watched her move around the kitchen. “Love that stove,” he said, pointing to the massive six-burner cooktop with double ovens.

“It's really something, isn't it? But I don't think we'd have room to move if we tried to fit it into our kitchen. Besides, we'd never cook for enough people to make it worthwhile.”

“True. Did we time our wedding to avoid hosting Thanksgiving?”

“Not necessarily,” Meg said, rinsing a teapot with hot
water. “I didn't mean to dump it all on your mother. And there's still Christmas,” she warned him.

“Mom's used to handling Thanksgiving. But maybe we should step up for next year.”

“Fine—as long as we don't invite more people than we can fit into the dining room.” Meg quailed at the thought of preparing a major meal for a dozen people, but no doubt the old house had seen its share of Thanksgiving dinners in the past, and who was she to complain? “Do you think your mother and Christopher are serious?”

“Is that question related to Thanksgiving?” Seth asked.

“Sort of. They've been spending time together lately, not that they tell us about it. What do you think?”

“Maybe,” Seth said cautiously. “It's not exactly the kind of thing a son talks about to his mother, at least not these days. In the old days I could have taken Christopher aside and demanded to know what his intentions were, or just told him to back off. But I both like and respect Christopher, so I have no grounds for objection, if that's what makes Mom happy. And she deserves to have someone in her life, if that's what she wants. Besides, it would be handy to have the resident orchard expert right next door.”

“They might decide to move to Amherst together, you know.”

“Aren't you jumping the gun just a bit? They haven't even told us they're dating.”

“I know, but I'm looking ahead. Then there would be two empty Chapin houses over the hill, and we have to figure out what to do with them.” The water boiled, and Meg poured it over tea bags in a china teapot. “As for the working relationship with Christopher, I wouldn't want to
bypass Bree and undermine her authority. She knows enough to reach out to Christopher when she needs help. Will it make you uncomfortable, now that we're married, having her living in the house?”

“Yes and no. She's been there longer than I have, but some throwback side of me wants to toss her out of our cave. She knows she could move to what's been my house.”

“That seems like a lot of house for just her, but on the other hand, she's not exactly the type to want roommates, and I doubt she wants Michael to move in with her.”

“Why not?” Seth asked.

“I don't think they're particularly serious about each other. And I think Bree is a lot more ambitious than Michael, which could be a problem down the road. We'll have to talk with her when we get back. If we ever do.”

Elizabeth walked quietly into the room. “I thought I heard voices down here. We must be on the same wavelength—I was just going to make a pot of tea, but you've beaten me to it. What have you two been up to? Are you completely bored yet?”

Meg carried the teapot, clad in a cozy, to the kitchen table, and then retrieved cups, spoons, sugar, and milk. “Getting there—no offense intended.”

Elizabeth held up a hand. “None taken! I know how busy your lives are, and I'm sure you're chafing to get back and get on with things. How did the new bathrooms turn out?”

“I didn't send you pictures? Shoot, I must have forgotten—I was a little distracted. It's great, having choices for a change. And I love the old bathtub! I wish I'd
had it when I first started working in the orchard—my whole body ached for months.”

“I can imagine,” Elizabeth said. “Will Bree be staying on at the house?”

“Seth and I were just talking about that. We really haven't had that discussion yet, what with everything else that was going on before we left. One more thing on the to-do list.”

“Meg, you know we won't be offended if you want to leave soon,” Elizabeth said carefully. “You have your own lives to live.”

Meg glanced at Seth before answering, choosing her words. “Please don't take this the wrong way, but it seems to me that you and Daddy are playing ostrich about what's been going on. With Enrique and Arthur, I mean.”

Elizabeth looked at her tea, and added some more milk. “Is that the way it appears? You may be right. We've led such quiet lives, and it seems so unreal that someone we knew was murdered here, on our own property, and a friend was attacked at the office. Maybe we are trying to ignore both events, which I can hardly defend. I know you've had much more experience in such things.”

“Not by choice, believe me.”

“But you've jumped right in and confronted them,” Elizabeth replied. “I admire that.”

Meg smiled at her mother. “It's not like I had a choice. In one case I had to prove myself innocent, and in another I had to turn around and do the same for you. Not that I distrust law enforcement, but they do try to make the simplest solution work before they look any further. We're lucky to have a friend on the Granford police, one who has an open mind.”

“But you didn't stop after just those two situations, dear, did you?”

Meg sighed. “Not exactly. I always believed that New England was a peaceful place, but I've discovered there's a lot going on beneath the surface. And memories are long—sometimes going back centuries. Old crimes don't just disappear, they go underground, waiting.”

“Nothing so interesting here,” Elizabeth said sadly.

Are you sure?
“Mother, what do
you
think is going on?” Meg asked.

Elizabeth looked up at her then. “Meg, I honestly don't know. I know it's not right to ignore what's happened, but I can't begin to explain it.”

Impulsively Meg laid her hand on her mother's. “I hate to think of leaving you two when you don't know what you're facing.”

“That's sweet of you, but I don't know if you can help. Thank you for trying, though.”

“We want to help, Elizabeth,” Seth said.

“I know, I know. I feel so useless!” Elizabeth replied.

Maybe it was time to change tactics, Meg thought. “Have you met Miriam?”

“Your father's secretary—or should I say, assistant? Yes, a few times, when I stopped by the office. Why do you ask?”

“I just wondered what you thought of her?”

“Well, she's about your age, so she's not just starting out. She seemed pleasant and competent. Your father's had nothing but good things to say about her.”

“You're both women. Didn't you get anything personal from her? I know Daddy wouldn't think of such a thing.”

“I've spent very little time with Miriam, dear. I believe
she's married—well, since she has a different name from the one in that yearbook of yours, that would be logical.”

“Do you believe that Miriam is the office Miriam?”

Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, I do. I can see the resemblance to the old picture. Maybe she heard about the opening through the Madison connection. But I wouldn't say she's made any effort to hide it. I think, as Phillip said, it simply doesn't come up.”

If there was a connection there, and if Miriam had had an ulterior motive in getting the job, she still hadn't made her move, and she had been in the job a year. If she'd wanted no more than to go through Phillip Corey's files, she would have had plenty of opportunities before now, starting with her first week on the job. Phillip and Arthur had apparently given her complete access to all the files in the office, which went back to when they'd started the practice. And Miriam knew the schedules for both her father and Arthur. She had keys to the office, and she could well have known about Enrique and used him to get into the house, or, heck, she could have borrowed Daddy's keys and had copies made.

“Meg, I think you're seeing villains behind every bush now,” her mother said. “If Miriam had wanted to find something, she could have done it at any time. She has free run of the office, and she's been digitizing the back files for a while now. There's nothing hidden there.”

“I know—I was just thinking the same thing. Does Daddy keep any files in the house?”

“I don't know, to be honest. Nothing current, I'm sure. There may be some old boxes in the attic here. When we moved, years ago, we had a company come in and deal
with all the packing, so I can't say that I looked at or labeled every box. I can't say how far back they might go. Why on earth would it matter?”

“Mother, I'm just trying to look at all possibilities. The bottom line is, someone broke in here and into Daddy's office presumably because they were looking for something they believed he had. If it was only this house, it could have been a simple robbery—it's an upscale neighborhood, and this house is pretty well concealed, at least in back. But the office break-in? I assume there's nothing of particular value there—apart from the files. No money, no valuables. Why break in there?”

Elizabeth shrugged helplessly. “Meg, I don't know.”

Meg glanced at Seth, then back at her mother. “Do you think we could look in the attic, see what's up there?”

“You should ask your father, but I have no objection—as long as you don't leave a mess.”

“Don't worry. And I'll talk to Daddy first.” Meg stood up quickly, but then stopped and kissed her mother on top of her head, which appeared to startle Elizabeth.

Seth followed Meg into the hall. Meg turned to him and said, “If Miriam is actually Joe's sister, that suggests that what we're looking for dates back to the years we all lived there. Yes, Joe and Miriam were kids then, but it's possible that something happened then that didn't seem important at the time, but that does now. Does that make sense?”

Seth shrugged. “In a way. At least it narrows the search. We're looking for boxes of files from your father's legal activities for the years that he and your family lived in Madison. Wasn't he with the New York firm then?”

“Yes, but he may have taken on some cases of his own.
Like what he did for Joe Caffarelli. There could have been others.”

“Your father seems to be a methodical person. He might have made some copies of documents or notes from his prior job and kept those, or, as you say, he could have handled other cases that didn't involve the law firm. Didn't Joe Caffarelli mention that he'd just cleared out his father's files himself? And he found a file on his dealings with your father?”

“He did. But Miriam's been working for him for a year, long before Joe went through his old files. And she was just a kid when Daddy was trying to help Joe. It seems more likely that she might have remembered the name, and when the job opened up she decided to apply for it. Look, all I want to do now is dot another
i
or cross another
t
. If there's nothing there, then we'll know. Let's tell Daddy we'll be looking around the attic.”

“Boy, you sure know how to show a man a good time. I'm really looking forward to rooting around in dusty old boxes in a freezing attic.”

Meg swatted his arm. “Hey, you'll have the pleasure of my company.”

They found that Phillip had retreated to his study on the second floor again. Did he and her mother ever spend time with each other? Meg wondered. “Hi, Daddy. Seth and I thought we'd look through the attic and see if there's anything of mine left there. I've got more room in my house now, and I could take it off your hands if you don't need it.”

“Ah, darling, I don't spend much time poking around up there, so I'm not sure what odds and ends have
accumulated. If there's any furniture up there that strikes your fancy, you're welcome to take that with you. We have more than enough as it is.”

“Thank you—I'll see what we find. Do you and Mother have any plans for the day?”

“Not really, other than enjoying spending time with you two. I need to get ready to get back to work tomorrow, and I'm sure Arthur will be a bit slower than usual.”

“We're coming with you, if that's all right.”

“Do I have a hope of stopping you?” Phillip softened his comment with a smile. “Things are likely to be quiet. As I think I've said before, no one wants to start litigation before Christmas, so my calendar is fairly clear. I assume you want to introduce yourself to Miriam.”

“Yes, I do. Ready for the attic, Seth?”

“You're fascinated by attics, Seth?” Phillip asked.