The Wolfe Widow (A Book Collector Mystery) (22 page)

Hugging the foundation, I explored, trying to figure out which windows belonged to which rooms. The living room seemed fairly obvious—I used the bay window as a clue—but sometimes professionals with these large older homes will convert the front area to offices. I knew nothing of this man, except that he was “the lawyer,” Dwight Jenkins.

I ruled out the kitchen. From what I knew about houses of this era, the dining room was across the hall from the living room and had a door to the kitchen. That left what I hoped was a smaller room at the end of the dining room, a den or study. I had no way of knowing if it would be. I spotted the piano window. Homeowners never think to alarm transoms or piano windows, according to some people I know well.

Despite my association with Signora Panetone and the Hudson Café, I am slim and agile. There was a good chance I could pass through it. Lucky me, some outdoor furniture remained. I dragged over a wooden chair that really should have been put away for the season. I took my roll of Mactac and my glass cutter. I stood on the chair and was not only able to reach the window, but to attach the Mactac and to use the glass cutter around the edges. The glass came out nicely.

Then I tucked myself behind a bush and waited for the sound of an alarm. None came. To be on the safe side, I took five minutes and hung around to be sure that the cops weren’t on their way. If they showed up, I’d melt into the neighborhood and home. Once I felt confident they weren’t, it was back on the chair. I put on the safety gloves to avoid getting cut and pulled myself up to the window. Inside, things started off well. There was an upright piano and so I was able to slide onto it and then hop to the floor instead of dropping from the window. I groped my way into the next room. Direct hit: It was an office. A briefcase lay on the desk. It was closed and locked. Damn.

I had a couple of choices at this point. I fiddled with the briefcase lock and soon realized it was complicated. I picked it up and headed across the hall to the dining room. I snatched up a bit of silver and dropped it into the black nylon bag to reinforce the idea of a burglary. I paused. Was that a creak from upstairs?

It was.

And then another one on the stairs. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the person descending on the stairs heard my heart thumping.

I legged it from the dining room into the kitchen, wrestled the door open and fled, dragging pillowcase and briefcase. My panic increased because lately so many doors I’d opened had nasty surprises—like fires and police officers—behind them.

The alarm sounded instantly as the door opened. The sound propelled me in my escape. A light from the house illuminated the yard somewhat. Without thinking, I turned back and saw what I took to be the lawyer backlit in the door, scratching his head.

I ran, only stopping to collect Cobain. I dumped the black nylon bag behind the bush and used my little hammer to smash the lock on the briefcase. In the morning, I’d have to make restitution to the lawyer, who was probably an innocent bystander. I took all the papers out, except a few that seemed unimportant, and stuffed the rest into my backpack. The rest I left to blow around in the wind. Once I was through the adjoining yard, I took off the scarf and stuffed it down my shirt. I removed my black jacket, revealing the bright red zippered fleece. I added the silly red-and-yellow knit hat with the braided ties and finally donned the black-framed glasses. At least I wouldn’t match any description given by the lawyer.

A police car whipped along the street. I stopped and stared at it in surprise as innocent people tend to do.

The car stopped and the cop rolled down his window. He was a heavyset guy pushing fifty. He had a slightly receding hairline. Maybe it had just migrated to his upper lip, where the mustache was doing well. I was pretty sure I’d seen him at the station. I walked over to see how I could help.

“You see anyone suspicious around here, miss?”

He didn’t really look closely at my face. I think my silly hat was a distraction. Now there was a training gap, I thought.

“I did.” I pointed to the yard with the bush where I’d left my stash. “Skinny white guy. He went that way. I think he dropped something. He looked kind of scary-looking. I was glad I had my dog.” Cobain wagged his new white tail and smiled at the officer. No doubt they’d met before.

The officer stared at me for a second. I think it was hard for him to take me seriously while I was wearing that hat.

I stroked Cobain to show my thanks. My hand came back covered in white and I hastily tucked it behind my back. Fortunately the officer was busy on the police radio. I hoped no innocent skinny white guy was about to become collateral damage because of my description.

I left the officer to find the “evidence” and hustled home before he came back to ask me for a statement.

At home, I got out of my highly identifiable gear and cleaned off Cobain. He licked my hand. Walter scampered around jealously.

I dug the papers out of my backpack. My heart rate was still high as I began to read.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Vera had made a will leaving everything to her natural sister.

Muriel Delgado.

And in a separate set of documents, she had given power of attorney for health and financial matters to the same Muriel Delgado.

There were two witnesses to all the documents. I’d never seen their names before.

This was a disaster.

Vera had literally signed her life away. Now she was a sitting duck.

C
OBAIN WENT STRAIGHT
to bed once I wiped off his disguise. I gave him a few treats to reward his actions as an accomplice. Really, he could have turned pro any time.

Walter woke up at the possibility of a T-R-E-A-T and now decided he needed to go out. I took a ring of keys from Mick’s favorite hiding place. I gathered up my disguise and the legal papers. Then I slipped on my old plaid coat and my poor boy cap and stood shivering outside with Walter. Once the important stuff was taken care of, I crossed the street. I checked carefully to see that I wasn’t spotted. Then I hustled down the alley in back of the vacant dress shop that Uncle Mick had recently purchased, not that I knew that officially.

This skulking around investigating was a pain in the rump. I’m not sure how Archie Goodwin remained so cheerful through all those books.

The fifth key on the ring opened the door. I headed up the rickety stairs to the vacant space over the shop. The place was full of shrouded machinery, from the look of it. I didn’t want to snoop on my uncle, although it all looked suspiciously like high-end copying equipment. I realized I had made a mistake in choosing this location. It might be part of Mick’s current project and therefore off limits, but it was too late for the moment. I found a loose floorboard, made it a bit looser, and deposited the will, the red fleece, the silly hat and the tools. It wouldn’t fool a search team, but I didn’t figure one would be showing up. Anyway, it was only temporary.

Just as I reached the other side again, a police car came slowly rolling along the street and stopped. I recognized the officer as the same one who’d stopped me before.

What if he recognized me?

“I know you,” he said.

I gave him my widest smile. “Yes, I think we’ve met at the station. I have a friend who works there . . . sometimes.”

“Oh yeah. You’re Dekker’s girl. Did you see a woman and a dog come by?”

I laughed and pointed at Walter. “Well, we are a woman and a dog.”

“Different one. The woman was a bit thinner than you, maybe your height, stupid hat, glasses. Did you see them?”

Thank you, stupid hat, for total anonymity.

I shook my head. “I was asleep until the bossy pooch decided he couldn’t put off a trip outside. Didn’t see anyone.”

Too much info
, I told myself.
Don’t pile it on, you’ll trip up. A simple “no” would have done.

He said, “A black-and-white dog. Weird looking.”

I shook my head and pointed to Walter. “This is the only dog I’ve seen. Walter’s kind of weird. Did it look like this?”

“Not even a little bit.”

I was hoping that Cobain wouldn’t wake up and show his face in an upstairs window and make an obvious liar out of me.

He said, “What about a skinny white guy running?”

I glanced around nervously and pulled my cape around me tightly. “Should I be worried, Officer?”

“Nah. Go back to bed,” he said.

“I won’t be able to sleep now.”

“Lock your doors,” he said, and drove away.

Gee, thanks. Fat lot of good the cops were. Locking his doors and putting on his security system hadn’t saved the lawyer from me. If someone really wants to get in, they’ll get in.

I turned toward the house and the cop car rolled on. Inside, I fished out my phone and called Kev.

“Mmmmph?”

“Wake up, Kev. Cruella’s named in the will.”

“What?”

“You have to find the will and hide it.”

“But Bo Peep, what good would that do? The lawyer has the other copy.”

“Not anymore, he doesn’t.”

Kev gasped. “She’ll know that was us. She’ll call the cops.”

“So? Why would we take it? We’re not going to inherit. Hard to imagine we’d be in any of Vera’s wills. But as long as Muriel is the beneficiary in this will, Vera’s life is in danger.”

“Muriel will just insist on getting another will made. Vera’s eating out of her hand.”

“Just do it, Kev. Go fast. I am sure the lawyer will call Van Alst House to let them know as soon as he realizes that the will is gone. If the one at Van Alst House is gone too, I’m guessing they’ll do up another tomorrow. But it buys us some time to help Vera.”

“They’ll probably figure it was you, Jordie.”

“They won’t be able to prove it.”

“They might search your place.”

“And if they do, they’ll find me and two dogs. They won’t find any will.”

“Good.”

“Kev. Make it look like a burglary. Break a window.”

“Righty!”

I knew he’d love that.

“It’s starting to snow again. Don’t leave footprints outside. Or if you do, wear someone else’s boots.”

“Outside?”

“You do know that a window broken from within the house is a sign of an inside job.”

“Of course, everyone knows that. You caught me sleepin’, Jordie. I’m not thinking a hundred percent yet. Footprints, yeah, that’s right.”

I hoped that hundred percent thing kicked in soon. “When will you do it?”

“On it now.”

“I’ll dial 911 to give myself an alibi.”

I told the dogs to stay put and headed for the back. I knocked over a few garbage cans. I smudged up the snow so that no sign of my footprints would remain, not that I was expecting a full-fledged police investigation into a possible intruder in my alley. Still, you can’t be too careful. Luckily, we have no neighbors on either side. That’s a benefit of my uncles’ having bought up most of the property on the block.

Two minutes after I got in, I practiced my hyperventilating and called 911. I whispered breathlessly, “I think someone’s trying to break in. Please come right away.”

After a few sorting-out questions, the dispatcher said that help would be there shortly. She advised me to remain calm. I said I’d try.

The same officer rolled back up to Michael Kelly’s Fine Antiques and grinned when he saw me open the door.

I blurted, “I think that guy might have been here.”

Walter greeted him with great enthusiasm.

“What happened exactly?”

“Something or someone knocked over the aluminum garbage cans in the back. I had just gotten back to bed and it woke me up.”

“You see anything?”

“No. I don’t think he got in. The dog started to bark and I think maybe he changed his mind.”

“Anyone with you?”

I shook my head. “My family’s away. Anyway, it’s back here.” I gestured to the lane that separated our building from the next. “Aren’t you going to call for backup?”

He laughed. “I’ll be able to handle it.”

“It really couldn’t hurt to call for backup, could it?”

He was still laughing when he headed down the lane. He wasn’t when he returned. “Cans are all messed up. Can’t get any tracks, but it looks like someone was trying something. Has anything been disturbed inside?”

I shook my head. I silently asked my uncles to forgive me as I brought the forces of law and order inside and showed him the various doors.

He was frowning. “Looks like you scared him off. Sure you’re all right?”

I smiled, wanly. “Spooked the heck out of me.”

“Yes, he’s probably looking for an easier target. Might even have been a raccoon. Even so, you got someone to stay with you? You’re shaking.”

“Thanks. I’m okay.” My teeth were chattering and I wasn’t even faking it.

“Give it some thought. Call a friend. I’d want my kids to do that.”

Ah yes, my “friends.” Of course, they’d vanished off the face of the earth. I didn’t want to mention that to him. I really hate people feeling sorry for me, even nice fatherly cops. Especially nice fatherly cops.

If Mick arrived home to find me being consoled by another cop in the shop, well, we might have to call a hearse.

“I’m in the area and I’ll patrol as often as I can tonight. How about I park down the street when I do my paperwork? Call 911 if you need to. I’ll get the call.”

“I appreciate that.” That at least was true at this point.

He said, “And if I’m not on duty and you need help or for some reason they don’t reach me, here’s my cell.” He passed me a generic Harrison Falls Police Services card with his own number written on it by hand.

Well, that was kind but weird.

As soon as he left, I texted Uncle Mick and Uncle Lucky to let them know it wasn’t a good night for any, shall we say, unusual activity. I made myself comfortable and waited for Kev to call.

When he did, it wasn’t good news. Not at all.

“We’ve got a problem here, Bo . . . Jordie!”

“What?”

“There was a break-in. Muriel’s saying I did it.”

Assuming that Kev was on speakerphone, I played it straight.

“A break-in? That’s awful, Kev. What did they take? Not Vera’s silver?”

“Not the silver. Well, I don’t think they took the silver. No one mentioned it. Did they take the silver, Vera?”

I could hear Muriel raging and Vera’s gravelly tone in the background.

“I can’t hear Vera, Muriel,” Kev said peevishly. “And I didn’t have anything to do with breaking that window. I am offended you would suggest that.”

“Il demonio!”

“I don’t know what was taken, Jordie, but the cops are on their way. Muriel is saying that you were in on it.”

“In on
what
?”

“I don’t know ‘in on what.’ But she says you’d better have an alibi.”

“An alibi? Why?”

“Because of whatever happened here, maybe twenty minutes ago.”

“Oh dio!”

“Please, Signora, try to calm down. You’re not helping anyone.”

“Muriel is saying the police will want to talk to you about where you were when this was going on.”

“As a matter of fact, I was right here with the dogs, and I have a very good alibi for twenty minutes ago.”

“Well, that’s good, Jordie, because I’m wondering what kind of alibi Muriel has. Although she seems to have the cops in her pocket.”

I heard Muriel’s deep voice say, “Watch it, Kelly.”

Kev kept going. “There’s a window broken. From the outside, and guess what?”

I sighed, “What, Kev?”

“Muriel’s boots are dripping from the snow, even though she claims she hasn’t been outside all night. There’s some kind of legal documents missing apparently. Who else but Muriel would care about that? Vera can’t get outside and the rest of us have nothing to do with any legal documents. Do we, Signora?”

“Povera Vera!”

“You know what, Jordie? I think Muriel broke that window to fake a break-in for her own nefarious purposes.”

“Nefarious. Kev?”

“Yes. Because—”

“Kev, I can’t hear you.”

All hell appeared to have broken loose at Van Alst House. I did hear a bit of the signora’s high wail. The rest was just shouting and then the phone went dead.

*   *   *

“WE BEEN FIRED!”

“What?”

“Muriel found out that I got Eddie’s phone number from the signora. She told Vera and I’ve been fired. I guess the break-in didn’t help either. The signora’s fired too. We’re already off the property.”

I barely stopped myself from saying “what” again. “The signora too? Off the property? It’s the middle of the night.”

Of course, Uncle Kev didn’t actually have a vehicle at the moment. That’s another story that would take too long to explain. “You mean you’re standing on the road?”

“With everything I own in the world.”

“I’m coming. Just wait for me and try to keep warm.”

“I kind of miss the kitties, so that will be nice. But, you know, I’m worried about the signora. How is she going to cope?”

“She’ll stay with us too. We’ll find a way to deal with it in the morning. I’m on my way.”

My heart was thumping. Kev might be a walking disaster, but he cared about Vera and he understood the way the household worked. This was bad news, especially with Muriel working so hard to get Vera’s new will. As for the signora, that was just plain heartbreaking. I hustled out and the dogs hustled with me.

Ten minutes later, in the Saab, we picked up Kev and the signora, shivering on the side of the road. With the two dogs in the car, at least there was plenty of body heat to keep them warm.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. By the time I got it out, it was too late.

“Shoot. I’ve missed a call from Eddie. I’ll call him back from home.”

Beside me, Uncle Kev was shivering pathetically. I couldn’t give him a rough ride about not wearing his warm clothes. He’d been through enough. I stepped on the gas and we rocketed the rest of the way to Uncle Mick’s. The signora wailed. The dogs loved it all.

*   *   *

IT TOOK A
few minutes to get everyone warm, dry and calm. While I tried unsuccessfully to return Eddie’s call, the signora helped her own mood by whipping up a bit of pasta for Kev.

“Eat,” she said. “Eat to help Vera.”

I wasn’t sure what you call a meal at four in the morning or how that meal would help Vera, but Kev enjoyed it. And the cats who had been yowling from behind Uncle Lucky’s door may have scored a morsel or six. I decided I would check with the vet the next day to see what they should be eating, but for the moment I let it go. My head was buzzing with fatigue. I headed to bed and left them in the kitchen.