Eden and Kevin crossed the floor of Beverly’s room, ready to go tell Ida Mae and the others what they’d just found out. Before they reached the door, Tansy flung it open and came inside.
“Hide!” she whispered urgently. “Andrea and Dr. Greene are on their way here.”
Kevin shoved Eden and Tansy into the closet, then joined them and pulled the door closed. Seconds later, Eden heard a click in the lock and then Andrea’s voice.
“Finally, a chance to talk in private. I don’t know where Mother is. I’ve been looking for her for fifteen minutes, but at least she won’t interrupt us.”
“We’re in serious trouble,” Dr. Greene said. “I went to Debbie’s office this afternoon and she was scowling at the accounting program on the computer. It’s only a matter of time before she figures it out.”
“Debbie’s not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree,” Andrea replied. “She hasn’t caught us yet, and I just don’t think she’s going to.”
“Wait a minute.”
The room grew still, then Dr. Greene said, “Why is that lamp on? I thought this room was unoccupied.”
Rats. Eden had forgotten to turn the light off. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the doctor to let it drop.
“The curtains are a little crooked, too,” Andrea said. “Housekeeping is supposed to leave everything in perfect order when they finish with a room.”
“Someone’s been in here,” Dr. Greene said. “And I’m not talking about Goldilocks.”
Eden heard him walk across the floor and look in the private bathroom, and then he grasped the closet door handle and yanked it open.
“Gotcha,” he said.
“How did they kill Beverly?” Ida Mae asked.
“An injection of insulin,” Eloise said. “It’s lethal in high doses, and it’s not as traceable as a drug. I think she died peacefully, if that’s any consolation.”
That was a completely odd thing for Eloise to say, but Ida Mae chose not to comment on it. “What happened with Dr. Brent?”
“Well, she lived right across the street from Andrea. In fact, she helped Andrea find that rental house. Andrea and Dr. Greene decided they needed to talk to Dr. Brent and see if they could buy her off, but she refused. She was collecting as much information as she could get her hands on, and then she was going to the police. They had a huge argument, and Dr. Greene killed her. They took her body out to the shed, figuring no one would find her for a long time.”
“They’re just lucky the police didn’t find enough evidence to connect Beverly’s death with Dr. Brent’s,” Ida Mae said. “They would have been in jail long ago if not for that.”
Eloise nodded. “I know. And that’s where they should be. I’ve just been sick, holding on to this secret. I don’t know what will happen to me, but I can’t be quiet any more. Ida Mae, will you help me talk to the police and get this whole thing cleared up?”
“Of course I will. We’ll call them tonight. Where is Andrea now?”
“Oh, she and Dr. Greene went up to Beverly’s old room,” Eloise said. “I heard her tell him they needed to talk, and since it’s vacant, they decided to use it.”
Ida Mae cast Arlette a panicked look.
“What’s the matter?” Eloise asked.
“That room isn’t vacant right now,” Arlette said. “My granddaughter is in there.”
“If it isn’t the journalists,” Andrea said as Dr. Greene pulled Kevin and Eden out into the room. “And Ida Mae’s friend.” She looked at Tansy curiously. “What are you doing in there?”
“It’s a long story,” Tansy said.
“We’ll have to hear it later.” Andrea glanced at her watch. “I’m supposed to be downstairs in five minutes to help set up for the movie. I’ll be missed if I’m not there. What are we going to do with them?” she asked the doctor.
“We can’t leave them here,” he said. “I heard housekeeping say they’re going to overhaul the room during the movie. A new resident is moving in tomorrow.”
“We could lock them in the storage shed, then come back for them later,” Andrea suggested.
“Please don’t throw me in the briar patch,” Eden said. “Do whatever you want, but please, don’t throw me in the briar patch.”
Dr. Greene threw her a look. “Keep your mouth shut.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve just always wanted to say that.”
“That’s from Uncle Remus, right?” Tansy asked. “I loved those stories when I was a little girl. Why don’t people tell them anymore?”
“I don’t think they’re politically correct,” Kevin said.
“That could be it,” Tansy replied.
Eden eyed Dr. Greene. He looked uncomfortable. Unless she missed her guess, he didn’t feel in control anymore, and that could play to their advantage. When Kevin and Tansy looked like they were ready to stop talking, she threw in, “My grandpa used to tell me the story of Little Black Sambo, but that probably falls in the same category.”
“I’ve never heard that one,” Tansy said. “How does it go?”
“Once there was a little boy—”
“Shut up!” Dr. Greene yelled. “All right, we’ll take them to the shed. After the movie, we’ll figure out what to do next.”
“We aren’t going to kill them, are we?” Andrea asked, keeping her voice low. “I didn’t think we’d have to kill anyone, but it’s just getting more and more out of hand.”
“I’ll take care of it,” the doctor said, an edge to his voice. He didn’t look like a hardened criminal to Eden. He looked like a man who had gotten in over his head and was acting in desperation—and hated himself for it.
Kevin lunged forward and tried to tackle Dr. Greene, and Andrea screamed. Dr. Greene brought up a fist and swung it into the side of Kevin’s head, then reached out and grabbed Tansy by the throat.
“Everyone, hold nice and still,” he said. “Andrea, tie them up.”
Seeing Dr. Greene’s fingers pressed into Tansy’s throat, Eden didn’t dare disobey. She allowed Andrea to tie her wrists with the curtain ties from the drapes, and soon all three of the captives were trussed up. Then, Dr. Greene shoved them back into the closet.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
Eden heard the door to the room close. “Tansy, are you all right?” She wished she could see her friend’s face.
“I’m fine, although my throat is sore,” Tansy said. “Can we get this door open?”
Kevin threw his shoulder against it, but it didn’t budge. “I think he braced it with a chair or something.”
“Stop that,” Andrea growled from the other side.
“We can rush them when the door is opened,” Eden whispered.
When Dr. Greene came back and opened the closet door, he held a gun. That sort of ruined any plans for rushing.
With his gun pointed high, Dr. Greene forced Eden, Tansy, and Kevin into the hall. Andrea ran ahead and opened the door to the stairwell, and down they went to the main floor.
“This way.” She pointed, and soon they found themselves at the back of Shady Aspens’ property, facing a shed.
“What is it with you people and sheds?” Eden asked. She was ignored, probably for the best.
Dr. Greene and Andrea shoved them into the enclosure, and at the thunk that followed, Eden knew they’d been locked in.
“This looks like the maintenance shed. I could sure go for a flashlight right about now,” Kevin said.
Eden felt her way around, trying to locate a pair of gardening shears or a saw of some kind. Nothing.
“They must hire out most of their work,” she said to no one in particular. “There’s not even a lawn mower in here.”
“Some maintenance shed,” Kevin muttered. “Can’t even maintain anything.”
The three found some buckets in the corner and arranged them in a semicircle—“More cozy this way,” as Tansy said—and sat down.
Eden let out a long sigh. “I wish Ren was here. He’d come up wit
h a way to rig something and blast us out.”
“He’s not here,” Kevin reminded her, although that was one reminder she didn’t need. She was achingly aware that Ren was gone.
“Tell me about Little Black Sambo,” Tansy said, breaking the awkwardness of the moment.
Eden smiled gratefully, even though she knew Tansy couldn’t see her. “Once upon a time . . .”
An hour went by, one of the most stressful—and uncomfortable—of Eden’s life. She made a mental note that if she got out of this alive, she would never sit on a bucket again. After she finished telling the story of Little Black Sambo, Kevin and Tansy got into a discussion about pancakes, debating the virtues of blueberry syrup vs. standard maple, from the tree, not from a bottle, although definite points had to be given to Mrs. Butterworth’s. Eden listened to them halfheartedly while she tried to come up with a way to escape, but no matter how brilliant her plans were, each of them had a flaw. The three friends would just have to wait for Dr. Greene to come back, and then—gun or no gun—they’d have to rush him. If they were going to die anyway . . .
Finally, Eden heard voices approaching, then the lock being removed. Dr. Greene pulled the door open partway, a grim smile on his face. “Just making sure you’re comfortable,” he said.
“Dr. Greene, you don’t want to do this.” Eden tried to sound compassionate when what she really wanted to do was burst into tears. “You’re not a murderer at heart.”
“I am a murderer. And I’ll do it again, if I have to.” He held the gun a little higher. “In fact, I’ll do it three times.”
“Hurry!” Eloise said, and Arlette wheeled her chair even faster. Ida Mae pushed hers to the limit. Five miles an hour used to seem like lightning, and yet tonight, it was slower than molasses. They passed Lee Ann in the hallway.
“Have you seen Andrea?” Eloise asked her.
“She and Dr. Greene went outside a few minutes ago,” Lee Ann said. “Is something wrong?”
“Everything’s fine,” Eloise answered as they headed for the door.
“What’s out here?” Arlette asked.
“Nothing but some old sheds,” Eloise replied.
“What is it with those two and sheds?” Ida Mae asked.
They hit the walkway and tried to burn some rubber. Ida Mae doubted the rubber even got warm, but they did their best. Up ahead, she saw two figures standing in front of a shed, the one nearest the decorative lake on the back portion of the retirement center property.
“There they are,” Eloise said in a low voice.
“Wait here a second.” Arlette parked Eloise’s chair and crept forward, letting the curve of the path and the trees block Andrea and Dr. Greene from seeing her. Ida Mae leaned forward but couldn’t hear anything.
Soon, Arlette returned. “They’ve got Eden, Kevin, and Tansy in that shed,” she reported. “Dr. Greene says he’s going to kill them.”
“Not on my watch, he’s not!” Ida Mae threw her chair into full gear.
Eden looked up into Dr. Greene’s eyes. “You may have killed people, but that doesn’t make you a murderer, deep down,” she said. “I think you’re desperate enough to kill, but I also think you’d welcome a way out of this.”
“And what’s that?” Dr. Greene asked sardonically. “Turn myself in, they slap my wrists and set me free? It doesn’t work that way.”
“I know it doesn’t. But wouldn’t it feel good to come clean?”
Dr. Greene aimed his gun right at Eden’s chest. “You’ll go first.”
Eden closed her eyes, then opened them to see something loop up and around Dr. Greene’s neck, yanking him backward. Next, she heard a thump, and a moment later, Ida Mae edged her chair around the door.
“Are you all right, Eden?”
“Ida Mae!” Eden leaped up. “What happened?”
“They shouldn’t leave their garden hoses lying around,” Ida Mae said. “Arlette lassoed herself a no-good varmint.”
“They also shouldn’t leave shovels lying around.” Arlette forced the door open the rest of the way. “They make mighty good head-whackers.”
Eden laughed. “Let me guess. Are they showing a John Wayne movie inside?”
“You got that right, little lady,” Ida Mae said. “Now, let’s get you untied.”
Eden stepped out into the clear night air, taking a deep breath and rubbing her wrists. She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Dr. Greene clamber up from the ground and start to run.
“Stop!” she screamed, taking a few steps after him, but she was too late. A shadowy figure in the bushes rose up and tackled Dr. Greene as he passed, and they both fell in a lump. Eden ran toward them, surprised to see George wrestling on the ground with the would-be fugitive. Arlette was right behind her, Dr. Greene’s gun trained on them.
“Stand up, Dr. Greene,” Arlette ordered.
He slowly came to his feet, and Eden trussed him up with her own bonds, considering it poetic justice. George lay on the ground, clutching his knee.
“George! Are you all right?” Eden bent down and touched his shoulder.
“I think I’m going to need another surgery.” He managed a smile. “But it’ll be worth it.”
Tansy walked up behind them. “Arlette, why do you always get to hold the gun? Don’t you think that just once, you could share?”
23
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Debbie O’Donnell’s fingernails, painted coral this time, fluttered in the air. “Dr. Greene has been taking money from the care center all this time?”
“Taking it from the insurance company, and using Shady Aspens to do it,” Eden explained. “He’s been billing the insurance for goods and services the patients never received, and pocketing the money.”
Debbie leaned back in her chair, a green pallor tinting her face. “And all those times he came into my office and borrowed my computer and brought me flowers and took me to dinner . . . he was using me?”
“I’m sorry,” Eden said. She hadn’t suspected that the doctor was manipulating Debbie romantically, but the look on the poor woman’s face said it all. It also explained how he got access to the center’s main computer system.
“The police are waiting to question you,” Kevin said from the doorway.
“Me? They want to question me?” Debbie shut her eyes. “Can’t you make them go away?”
“They’d just come back,” he replied. “If you can prove you’re innocent in all this, it shouldn’t be too awful for you.”
Debbie groaned as the investigating officer came in, and Eden took the opportunity to slip out. She and Kevin went down the hall to join everyone else in Ida Mae’s room. With the entire group in one small space, it was a little cramped, but she suddenly understood why Tansy liked things to be “cozy.” She felt a little safer, surrounded by so many people she could trust.
“So, Eloise is Andrea’s mother,” Eden said after getting settled on the edge of the bed. “What else did I miss?”
“According to Eloise,” Ida Mae began, “Dr. Greene stole a lot of money from a nursing home across the country, too, and left right before they figured it out. When he got here, he cast around for an accomplice, and Andrea was the best choice.”
“And things were going pretty well until Dr. Brent found out,” Hattie interjected. “When she confronted him in the parking lot, and when Beverly saw Dr. Greene hit her, well, that’s when things got out of control.”
Eden shook her head. “I can’t believe two people were killed before Dr. Greene was caught.”
“Neither can I.” Ida Mae reached out to pat Eden’s hand. “But I’m so glad it wasn’t five.”
“Have you told them the last piece of the puzzle yet?” Kevin asked Eden.
She paused for a moment, trying to remember what he meant, then it came back to her. “Not yet.” She laughed. “You all remember Beverly’s note, and the word ‘gape’?”
Everyone nodded.
“Well, that stuck out to
me because it seemed so odd. But when Kevin and I looked out her window, we noticed something interesting.”
“Beverly was trying to give a clue as to the identity of ‘G,’” Kevin said. “He has a personalized license plate that reads ‘AGAPE.’”
“Agape, as in charity?” Ida Mae asked, and Kevin nodded.
“But that’s just silly,” Tansy said. “Why would a murderer have that on his license plate?”
“He wasn’t a murderer when he ordered it, I’m sure,” Eden remarked.
For another hour, the group shared their findings and rehashed the night’s events. During a lull in the conversation, Kevin caught Eden’s eye and motioned for her to leave the room with him. They stepped out into the hall and he pulled the door closed.
“I’ve been thinking a lot tonight,” he said. “Well, in what time I had, between fearing for my life and talking to the police.”
“Thinking about what?” Eden asked.
“What I said a while ago, about Ren not being here. That was a low blow, and I’m sorry.”
She reached out and touched Kevin’s arm. “It’s okay.”
“The truth is, Eden, Ren’s not here, and I’m a poor substitute. The two of you have a history together, and I think I should step aside and let you see what your future might hold. I know he won’t be home for a while, and I’m good for pizza and movies and whatever else, but when he gets back, I’ll make myself scarce.”
Eden felt tears welling up in her eyes.
“And,” he continued, “if you discover that you’ve changed too much, you can always come hunt me down. I care about you, Eden. I always will.”
“Thank you,” she said, wiping her eyes with her thumb. “You’ve been such a good friend, Kevin.”
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