Treasured Legacies (A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery) (18 page)

“Mr. Carpenter,” Mary called as she strolled down the hall.
“Mr. Carpenter, I really need your help.”

“Mary, really, he’s dead,” Jessie said, following her into
the hall. “I know you’re trying to help us, but this is really crazy.”

The small man Mary had seen earlier stepped out into the
hallway through a doorway at the end of the hall. “Hi, Mr. Carpenter,” Mary
said. “I’m Mary O’Reilly, thanks for showing up.”

Jessie came up behind Mary. “Who are you talking to?” she
whispered.

“Mr. Carpenter just stepped out of his office to meet with
us,” Mary said. “That was his office, wasn’t it, at the end of the hall?”

Nodding, Jessie stared into the empty hall. “Yes it was, but
Mary, no one is here.”

“Mr. Carpenter, do you remember Jessie?” Mary asked.

“I do,” the old man said. “One of the brightest accountants
we had on staff. Have they made her a senior partner yet?”

Mary turned back to Jessie. “He wants to know if they made
you a senior partner yet.”

After a burst of astonished laughter, Jessie shook her head.
“Okay, I know he’s not there if he asked you that question,” she said. “They
aren’t even considering me for that kind of promotion.”

Mary turned backed to the ghost. “Did you hear that?” she
asked.

Mr. Carpenter stroked his chin with his fingers. “I
recommended her two years ago,” he said, shaking his head. “Just before I died.
Why would they postpone her advancement?”

“He recommended you two years ago,” Mary told Jessie. “But
he doesn’t know why they didn’t act on it.”

“He did what?” Jessie asked.
“Really?
He recommended me?”

Nodding, Mary turned back to Mr. Carpenter. “I have a theory
to share with you,” she said.

“I love theories,” he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.
“My favorite is the mathematical control theory.
 
Which one do you want to discuss?”

“Well, this theory is not quite mathematical,” Mary said.
“It’s more situational.”

“Go right ahead my dear,” he said with a smile.

“If a certain CPA firm has a long-standing and prestigious
client that has something in his files that could prove detrimental if it were
discovered,” Mary said. “Could that client have enough influence to block the
advancement of a junior accountant?”

“Ms. O’Reilly, I believe we are moving from hypothetical
theories to actual fact, are we not?” he asked.

Mary smiled and nodded. “Yes, Mr. Carpenter, I believe we
are.”

“Now, I was a great accountant, but I was never very good at
algebra, so could you do away with the ‘a plus b equals c’ and fill in some
names?”

“I would be very happy to do so,” she replied. “Your firm’s
client, Mr. Sawyer Gartner, could have been involved in the murder of Jessie’s
father. Part of the evidence could potentially be found in his files from about
fifteen years ago.
 
If Jessie were to be
made partner, she would have had access to those files.
 
Could he be covering
his…um, assets?”

Mr. Carpenter shook his head. “Those are very serious allegations,”
he said.

“Yes, and we have substantial circumstantial evidence to
back up this theory,” Mary said.

He nodded. “And Jessie, what does she think?”

“Well, I think she believes I’m a little crazy because I’m
speaking with you,” Mary replied honestly. “But she felt the evidence was
strong enough to bring me here to the offices after hours to try to access his
file and determine the truth.”

“She has a good head on her shoulders,” he said. “I don’t
see her jumping to any rash conclusions.”

“I agree with you,” Mary said. “What do you suggest?”

He shrugged his shoulders and then smiled slowly. “I say we
break into the vault and take a look at those records.”

“I think that’s a brilliant idea, Mr. Carpenter.”

“Follow me,” he said.

Jessie watched in amazement as Mary walked further down the
hall and the door to the vault room opened before Mary reached it.
 
Moving closer, her jaw dropped as the
security code buttons to the vault lit up and within moments, the heavy steel
door swung open.

“What did you do?” Jessie asked.

Mary shook her head. “I didn’t do anything,” she answered.
“Mr. Carpenter has faith in your judgment. You did it, not me.”

Before Jessie could reply, a black and white cardboard box
floated from the depths of the vault and slid onto the top of a conference
table in the room.
 
Mary walked over and
read the label on the outside.
 
“What a
surprise,” she said with a smile. “It’s Sawyer Gartner’s file.”

Jessie still hadn’t made a lot of coherent statements since
they had left the CPA offices. “The box just floated,” she repeated, shaking
her head.

“No, Mr. Carpenter, the ghost, carried it for us,” Mary
explained again. “And then he put it away. No fingerprints. No breaking and
entering.
Piece of cake.”

“But there was no one there,” Jessie said, her voice still
on the edge of hysteria.

“Yes, there was,” Mary tried again. “But you just couldn’t
see him.”

Jessie shook her head. “I don’t believe in ghosts,” she
informed Mary.

Mary nodded and smiled. “Oh, well, I see what the problem is
then,” she said. “You just want a logical explanation.”

“Yes,” Jessie replied. “That’s it exactly.”

“Okay, how about I’m a trained hypnotist and without your
knowledge I hypnotized you and made you see amazing things, like vaults opening
and boxes floating, when really nothing like that happened at all.”

Jessie exhaled with relief. “Yes, that makes sense.”

“The only problem with that explanation is that I’m holding
a copy of the files from Sawyer Gartner’s folder,” she said. “But perhaps
that’s just a figment of your imagination too.”

“You couldn’t have just left it there,” Jessie said. “You
couldn’t have just let me believe there was a logical, although farfetched,
explanation for everything I’ve seen tonight.”

“No. No I couldn’t,” Mary said.

“Why not?”

“Because, once we reach the seventh floor and walk into the
conference room, your father will be there,” Mary explained. “And if you have a
believing heart, you might be able to see him.
 
And I think you both would enjoy that.”

They walked into the lobby of the Stewart Centre and
summoned the elevator.
 
Because it was
nearly ten o’clock, the elevator door opened immediately and the women stepped
inside.
 
Mary pushed the button for the
seventh floor and they were whisked upward.

“Dad will be there?” Jessie whispered hesitantly.

“Yes, he will,” Mary said.

“What will he look like?”

Mary thought of the broken and bent image of Dale she saw
and prayed that the reflection Jessie was able to see was of an earlier time in
his life. “I’m not sure what he’ll look like,” she said. “What I see when I
meet a ghost is what I need to see in order to help them.
 
What did you see when you used to see him at
your house?”

Tears filled her eyes as she thought back to those rare
moments. “I just saw my dad,” she replied.

“Then I would guess that’s who you’d see tonight too.”

The elevator door slid open and they walked down the hall to
the big conference room.
 
The room was
already filled with people and the smell of pepperoni pizza. “I figured since I
made you miss your lunch, I at least owed you some dinner,” Josh said as they
walked in.

Mary smiled at him. “Thank you, that was very nice.”

Abe stood up and walked around the room to meet her. “So,
Josh tells me you’re trying to find out who killed our dad,” he said.

Mary nodded. “That’s right.”

“That’s not what you said when you came to my shop.”

“Would you have spoken with me if I had told you what I was
doing?” she asked.

He paused for a moment, examining his own feelings, and then
shook his head. “No, I would have told you to get the hell out of my shop,” he
replied.

Mary met his eyes. “
Which is kind of what
you said anyway.
”

Abe nodded, embarrassed. “I thought I was protecting my
family.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Mary said. “And so did your dad. He was
pretty proud of you for standing up for family like you did.”

“He was there?”

“Yeah, he told me you were the most diligent of the kids,”
she said. “That’s why I asked you if you had checked earlier.”

“I can’t believe dad’s been hanging around all this time,”
he said. “And his murderer has been allowed to walk free.”

“Well, let’s see if we can’t change that,” Mary said.

Abe offered her his hand. “Thank you,” he said.
“For not walking away from us.”

“No problem,” Mary said, shaking his hand. “I’m glad we’re
on the same team.”

“Me too,” he said and then walked back around the room to
speak with his brother.

Bradley came up to her carrying a plate and a bowl with a
small salad. “Everything okay here?” he asked, glancing over to Abe.

“Oh, yes, everything’s fine,” Mary said. “Thanks for coming.”

“No problem, I’m here to make sure something healthy gets in
your system,” he said, bending over and giving her a quick kiss. “How’d it go?”

“Great.” Mary said, pulling out the file. “It looks like we
have motive. How’s Clarissa?”

Bradley smiled. “How do you think?” he asked. “She got to
spend the night at the Brennans.”

“Yeah, I think she’s good,” Mary said with a smile, and then
she turned to the rest of the people in the room to get things started, but saw
Quinn approach Jessie.
 
“I think I’m
going to start things in a few minutes.”

Bradley followed Mary’s eyes and nodded. “Good, it will give
you a chance to eat something.”

On the other side of the room, Jessie watched Quinn
approach.
 
Her feet were frozen to the
spot, so she swallowed and tried to look away, but Quinn wasn’t going to let
her get away that easily.
 
He stepped
closer and took her hand in his. “It’s good to see you,” he said softly.
“You’re looking good.”

She smiled shyly and nodded. “You too,” she said. “How are
you doing?”

“I’m good,” he replied. “I’ve moved up in the bank. I really
like banking, you know, helping people.”

“You were always good with people,” she said. “You know,
friendly.”

“How are things going with your job?” he asked.

“Great. Just great,” she replied, trying to think of
something less inane to say. “Oh, Mr. Carpenter said he recommended me for
senior partner.”

Quinn shook his head. “I thought Mr. Carpenter died two
years ago.”

Jessie bit her lower lip and pulled her hand from his.
“That’s right, he did,” she said. “But somehow, he was there tonight, at the
office. He helped us get the file. I don’t understand…”

He took her hand back and smiled at her. “Yeah, neither do
I
, even when Rosie tried to explain it. But I guess
interesting things happen when you work with Mary O’Reilly.”

Jessie looked up and met his eyes and saw acceptance, and
more, in them.
 
She blushed happily and
nodded. “Yes, I guess they do.”

Seeing the smile on her face, Mary nudged Bradley. “Looks
like things are warming up over there.”

“So are you Mary the ghost-helper or Mary the matchmaker?”
he asked.

“I think I prefer psychic sleuth,” she whispered with a
grin.

“What?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” she replied and then she cleared her
throat and turned to the other members in the room. “Okay, I think we ought to
get started.”

They all gathered around the table: Mary, Bradley, Josh,
Abe, Jessie, Quinn, Rosie and Stanley.
 
But Dale was not there yet.

Mary slid the folder across the table to Jessie. “Jessie,
Dale’s not here yet,” she said. “But I think we can start without him. So, why
don’t you give everyone a brief explanation about what we found in Gartner’s
file?”

Jessie flipped the folder open and then looked up at the
rest of the people seated around the table. “Well, first, the information I’m
about to share with you is still confidential,” she said. “And because we
didn’t have a search warrant, we really can’t use it in a court of law.”

Bradley turned to Mary. “No search warrant?” he asked, one
eyebrow lifting.

“
Shhhh
,” Mary whispered. “One of
the senior partners gave us the information. So, I was fine.”

“Was the partner alive or dead?” Bradley whispered back.

Mary shrugged. “I’m pleading the fifth,” she replied with a
smile.

“The financial records show that for several years prior to
the Maughold project the Gartner farm was running in the red,” Jessie said. “The
equipment was old, the house had a lien on it from a second and a third
mortgage and Sawyer’s expenditures outweighed his income.”

“I always wondered how he could live so high on the hog,”
Josh said. “His kids always went to Disneyland; they always had the best
clothes and newest electronic games. I just figured Dad was stingy.”

Jessie shook his head. “He was so far in debt, there was no
way for him to recover,” she said. “He was going to lose his farm.”

Quinn looked across the room to Bradley. “How hard is it for
someone outside a bank to find out about someone’s financial status?” he asked.

“Well, actually, running a credit report will give you a lot
of basic information,” he replied.
“Debt to income levels.
The extra mortgages on the farm.
 
All of those would have been red flags.”

“So, I’m an investor looking to start a corporate farm in
the Freeport area,” Mary suggested. “I know I’m going to have to get approval
from the county board and I also know that in rural America corporate farms are
not really welcome.
 
So, I find out who’s
on the county board, which is public information and I run credit checks on all
of them to find out which one of them is the most susceptible for a bribe.”

“Yeah, that works,” Josh says. “But it doesn’t explain why
our property was pulled into it. They could have just paid Sawyer a bunch of
money under the table. He didn’t need us.”

“But what if it wasn’t really about the corporate farm,”
Quinn suggested. “What if someone at Maughold was looking to make a little
money? He approaches a board member with the idea that they buy his property
upfront and the deal dies.
 
He gets to
buy back his land at current prices and the two split the cash.”

“How much land did Sawyer have?” Bradley asked.

“Only 500 acres,” Quinn said.
“Too small
for the corporate farm.”

“Which is why your farm was so important,” Mary said.
“Without your farm, they couldn’t make the deal.”

“How much money did he make on the deal?” Rosie asked.

“Over eleven million dollars,” Jessie said. “And, it’s very
interesting to note that the year the project fell through.”
 
Her voice thickened and she took a deep
breath. “The year my dad died, he suddenly had over five million dollars in
revenue.”

“So we have opportunity, we have motive and we have a
financial trail,” Bradley said. “All we have to do now is prove it.”

Dale appeared behind Josh’s chair. “All we
gotta
do is somehow
catch
the fox
in the chicken coop,” he said. “And the fox is running a might scared right
now, he thinks he’s seeing a ghost.”

Jessie’s eyes widened as she stared across the room to the
spot over her brother’s chair. “Dad?” she exclaimed, her eyes wide in
astonishment. “Dad you look just like Josh.”

Mary smiled and turned to Bradley. “And I think I know how
we can do it.”