Mahjonged (An Alex Harris Mystery)

by Elaine Macko

  She smiled at me as I approached. “Your mother just called. She’s trying to get a group together to play pinochle tomorrow.”

  “She does love her cards,” I said. I followed Jean into the house and was pleasantly surprised at the inside. The small living room was painted a very light shade of pink. I would never think to paint a living room wall pink, but it was so light and set off a beautiful selection of water colors hung on all the walls.

  “These are lovely,” I said, taking in an ocean view and next to it what looked like an old brick church courtyard. “Did you do these?”

  “Guilty. Do you like them?”

  “Very much.” I took a step over to another wall and this one had two small paintings, the first of a pastoral setting. Very calming. Just what appeared to be a park bench with a young woman looking out onto an expanse of grass and wild flowers and then the next one, the same setting though it looked colder now, maybe autumn.

  “It’s just a hobby. I paint places I’ve been, or sometimes I’ll paint from a post card someone sends me. I’m working on one now in the back room. I’m trying my hand at a still life. Flowers. I’m not very good.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” I said. I looked around and didn’t notice any pictures of family or friends in festive frames anywhere. My mother did say Jean was a loner.

  Jean took off the smock and tossed it on the kitchen counter. “Time for a break. Would you care for some coffee?”

  “Tea, if it wouldn’t be any trouble.”

  She handed me a mug of tea and then we settled onto a comfortable but worn sofa.

  “I’ll get right to the point, Jean. I’m trying to figure out what happened on Friday night.”

  “The police came by and asked me the same thing. From what they said, I get the feeling they don’t have anything yet.”

  “No, not much, I’m afraid. I think they’re concentrating on Bert.”

  “Ah, the man who broke in,” Jean said. “Well, he did break in. I guess it’s a good place to start.”

  “I think the trouble is we can’t really be sure Penelope was the intended victim. With the storm and the lights out, who knows if she got killed by accident? Did you know her before Friday evening?”

  Jean leaned forward and put her cup on the coffee table. “I only knew two people. Your mother and Dorothy. Both from the seniors group. Your mother is trying to get me out more. She says I keep to myself too much.”

  “Yes, my mom has a tendency to do that. She means well.”

  “Oh, I’m not upset by it. As a matter of fact I had a lovely time until…well, it was good for me to get out and I love mahjong. I hope you’ll ask me again if you organize another game.”

  “Of course. Jean, can you think of any reason why anyone would kill Penelope, assuming of course she was the intended victim? Did she say anything that seemed to upset someone?”

  Jean fingered the edge of a needlepoint pillow, beautifully done by her hand I felt sure, and looked at me. “I’m not much of a talker in situations like that. I mean, large gatherings, but I sat at the same table with her once or twice throughout the evening.”

  “Anything you remember?”

  “Not really. She talked a lot about her life in Europe. It sounded like she had a good life there. And she talked about her husband,” Jean said in a swooning voice, “and all the fun they had. I believe she met him where she worked, if I remember correctly. A law office, I believe.”

  “Everyone says the same thing. Penelope loved Europe.”

  “Yes, it sounded like she did very much,” Jean agreed.

  “Then why did Penelope and Pieter move here?”

  “Maybe for their jobs?” Jean suggested.

  “Hmmm,” I mused.

  “Her husband is dead, correct?” Jean asked. “I guess we’ll never know then why they moved here.”

  I finished my tea and set the cup down as a thought formed. I still had Els and Wilhelm left and with any luck after having found that picture, Els would be more than willing to spill the dirt about her stepmother.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  “I don’t want to talk about her anymore,” Els said to me from the other side of the coffee table where she sat on the sofa, arms folded across her chest and a pout on her face. “I can’t believe she betrayed Poppy.”

  “In all fairness, Els, we don’t know she did. The picture is obviously old and maybe it was a relationship she had before she met your father.”

  Els kept her arms crossed but there was an almost indiscernible relaxing of the shoulders. “Perhaps.”

  “Penelope and your father seemed very happy together from what everyone says. Did you ever see anything to the contrary?” I asked, hoping Els would open up.

  “No. They did seem happy.”

  “I know when someone has a happy relationship they tend to want to have another one when they lose a spouse. Do you know if Penelope had started dating again?” I asked Els, hoping this would invite a dialogue on Penelope’s current love interests.

  Els looked horrified at the suggestion. “Penelope dating so soon after Poppy died? No, she wouldn’t.”

  “Well, maybe she needed to, I mean for financial reasons,” I pressed.

  “Poppy left Pen very well off. I know. We went to the lawyer’s office with her as I mentioned before. Pen would have no reason to marry again. Or date. Especially so soon.”

  That seemed to put the kibosh on Penelope not having enough money to pay Bert, but whether or not Els wanted to admit it, Penelope was definitely looking for a new man in her life.

  I wasn’t getting anywhere on this subject, so I moved on to another. “One thing I don’t understand, though, is why did they move back here? You and your brother were in Holland, and they had good jobs, didn’t they?”

  “Very good jobs. Poppy was a partner at the law firm. But then he decided they would move here and transferred to the New York office. They lived in the city for a while and then bought this house. Poppy wanted to have more room and a bigger garden for when Wilhelm and I came for the summers.”

  “Where’s Wilhelm?” I asked.

  “Right here. Zwartwites?” Wilhelm stood behind me with his hand thrust around my side holding a handful of black and white licorice.

  “Geez! You scared me half to death.” What the heck was up with this guy? I was getting tired of his stealth-like appearance out of nowhere and what was with all the candy?

  Els sighed and shook her head. “Wilhelm.”

  I looked back at Els. “So there was no specific reason why they left Holland?” I pressed, sure I was on to something.

  Wilhelm plopped himself down next to his sister. “I think they moved because of my mother.”

  “Your mother?”

  “Yes, our mother wanted to get back with our father and he wanted none of it. But mother is persistent, and she kept driving by the house Poppy lived in with Pen.”

  “Wilhelm,” Els said, “you make it sound as if mother stalked them. She didn’t,” Els said, directing this last bit to me. “She just felt like they should try again.”

  “Oh, Els, it was more than that. Mother was positively hell bent on getting Poppy back. She called his house all the time and she even confronted Pen a few times. It got rather ugly so they moved.”

  “Did your mother come to your father’s funeral,” I asked.

  Els took one of the candies from her brother and popped it in her mouth. “She wanted to, but Pen wouldn’t have it. Pen never forgave mother for all the stuff she did before they finally moved.”

  “That must have upset your mother quite a bit,” I said.

  “She was livid. She said she was going to come anyway but in the end just Els and I came.”

  “What did your mother say when you told her Penelope died?” I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

  “She doesn’t know,” Els said.

  “You didn’t tell her? Why not?” Maybe this whole thing with Penelope was worse than I
imagined.

  “We can’t find her,” Wilhelm said. “We went round to her house before we left, but she wasn’t there. The neighbor said she left a few days before.”

  “We’ve tried calling her several times since we got here, but she hasn’t contacted us yet.” Els twisted a strand of her hair. “We’re beginning to worry.”

  “Does she do this a lot? Take off without telling you?”

  “Not that we know of. Neither of us lives with her, but we usually all have dinner a couple times a month,” Els said.

  “If we don’t hear from her soon, I think we will have to contact the police in Amsterdam, or maybe we’ll go home and come back later to clear all this up,” Wilhelm said, looking around the room at boxes piled all over.

  I told Els to call me when she felt up to packing again and I would come and help. I left the twins standing in the doorway worried about their mother, and I had to wonder where the first Mrs. Radamaker was and what she was up to?

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Whenever I get my hair cut, I always expect my life to somehow change. Like the next morning I’ll wake up looking like a supermodel or I’ll have magically lost those pesky extra pounds I wanted to lose, something. But it never happens.

  That was kind of how I felt now. Like I did all this work, interviewing all these people and…nothing. No clue magically dropped into my lap and no one stood up and said, yes, I did it. Arrest me now.

  I talked with Connie, Liz, Jean, and the twins, Els and Wilhelm, and other than finding out both Liz and Jean possessed artistic flair and black and white licorice was called Zwartwites in Dutch, I hadn’t learned anything that would help me solve this murder. Or had I?

  I pulled up in front of my office just as Millie and her boyfriend, Ruben, the undertaker, pulled away. I needed to stop thinking of him in such morbid terms. He was a funeral director and a lovely man, and he and Millie seemed very happy. I wondered if his mortuary would handle Penelope’s burial and thought I might suggest it to Els and Wilhelm in case they didn’t have other arrangements.

  I walked up to the front door and hoped Sam was still here because I picked up three sandwiches and, as hungry as I felt, I knew I couldn’t eat all three.

  “I hope that bag has lunch,” my sister said the minute I walked in. “I don’t feel like having to go get something, what with doing all the work around here and all.”

  “It does. Follow me,” I said ignoring her barb. She loved having me run around like some amateur sleuth from a cozy mystery and filling her in on the town gossip.

  We settled into my office after getting plates from the small kitchen and each taking a part of each of the sandwiches. I was famished and didn’t say anything until I had finished a piece.

  “Bad morning?”

  “Just disappointing.” I managed to say around a chunk of pastrami on rye.

  “Was Mia calmer today?” my sister asked as she reached for the last third of the salami and cheese.

  I shook my head. “I haven’t spoken to her yet. She works so maybe I can stop off tonight on my way home. Or I should say, on my way back to mom and dad’s.”

  “Speaking of which, any news from John?”

  “He called a little while ago. Bad connection again, but he said they delivered the wrong part to the mechanic so they had to reorder it. They checked into a hotel. Camping seems to have lost its glamour plus the cold is settling in.”

  “Did you tell him anything?” Sam asked, as she sat back in the chair finally taking a breath from her gluttonous intake of food.

  “You mean something like I’m trying to solve another murder? No. No, I did not. No need to worry him. Which reminds me, I need to check with Detective Maroni on what he’s found out so far and I can use John’s extended leave as an excuse to call him.”

  I balled up the paper from my sandwich and tossed it into the trash can on the side of my desk. “You know,” I said, sitting back in my chair and looking at my sister, “Els said something that’s got me thinking.”

  My sister pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes and leaned toward me, placing her arms on the edge of my desk. “You mean they were here all along and you think they killed her?”

  “No. But I’m wondering about their mother. The first Mrs. Radamaker. I’m wondering if Detective Maroni can check with the passport people and see if she’s entered the country.”

  “Their mother? Penelope and Pieter were married a long time. Why would the first Mrs. Radamaker suddenly decide to kill Penelope now?” Sam sat back in the chair and folded her arms. “I don’t think so.”

  “According to Wilhelm, his mother always wanted to get back with his father. And she bothered Penelope and Pieter all the time when they lived in Amsterdam. Calling all the time, driving by the house and Wilhelm thinks that’s why they eventually moved back here. The woman stalked them endlessly.”

  “So what? It was still a long time ago, Alex.”

  “Yes, but Pieter died this year and Penelope wouldn’t allow the first wife to come to the funeral and I guess she really wanted to.”

  “So she waited nine months and decided to hop on a plane and kill the woman? And how would she know Penelope went to your house?”

  “Because she was at my house as well,” I said with a sly smile.

  “Wait. What?”

  “Maybe the first Mrs. Radamaker is actually Liz or Jean?” I said.

  “You’re crazy. Really. That’s crazy talk. Don’t you think Penelope would have recognized the woman?”

  “Maybe. Liz or Jean could have changed their appearance.”

  “And accent. Because they sounded like pure New Englanders to me.”

  I propped my elbows on my desk and put my head in my hands. “You’re right. It’s crazy, but you see,” I said looking up at Sam, “this case has really thrown me. I can’t get a handle on it. I don’t even know if Penelope was the one who was supposed to be killed.”

  “Okay. So let’s say she wasn’t the right victim. Who, then? If it was any one of the other women in the room would you have a better handle on it? No,” my sister answered not bothering to wait for my reply, “because no one knew anybody else except for us. There’s no reason why anyone at your party would be killed.”

  I still had the thought in the back of my mind that Judith already knew Penelope but didn’t want to bring it up, especially here in the office where Millie might come back and overhear us. “So, what are you saying? That it was an accident? That someone picked up the knife and looking for a cake to cut, tripped and stumbled, and the knife went into Penelope’s back?”

  Samantha rolled her eyes. “No. What I’m saying is there was no reason why anyone at the party would kill anyone else.”

  I felt like screaming, but tried to remain calm and smiled at my sister. “So?”

  “So, you were right all along. The answer is in something that happened or was said at some point during the evening.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  I knew my sister just wanted to help, but what the heck hell, as she would say. I didn’t get anything substantial from our lunch banter. But for the sake of my sanity I decided to go with Penelope as the intended victim all along, which meant she said something to set someone off. Trouble was Penelope died and I couldn’t exactly ask her to tell me everything she chatted about during the evening, and whoever killed her wasn’t going to volunteer the information that had set them into action, so, I needed to recreate her words. But how? From what I had heard so far, she was in a good mood, laughed a lot, seemed easy going. She acted like a lovesick school girl when she talked about Pieter and their early courtship, and really had cherished her time in Europe. Nothing there to induce a knife attack. She did say one never got over their true love but unless one of the women at the party was her one true love and Penelope lived a double life, I didn’t see where it fit into the equation. She didn’t talk much about her job and I got the impression she hadn’t practiced law in a while. Once she and Pieter mov
ed to the U.S., I don’t think Penelope worked. So what had she been doing all these years? I would have to ask Els.

  I wasn’t getting anywhere thinking about the murder and maybe I needed a break. I spent the rest of the afternoon concentrating on my own business affairs. I interviewed a new applicant for the agency, a young man who just moved to the area and wanted some temp work until he could find regular employment. With the state of the economy, I figured we had him in our stables for a while anyway. He had a lot of qualifications and I sent him out to Millie so she could enter everything into our database and find him an assignment.

  I spent another couple of hours working on a PowerPoint presentation Sam planned to give at a job fair the following week. Shortly after five Millie came in.

  “I say, have you done something jolly with your hair?” Millie asked.

  Ever since Downton Abbey had taken the country by storm, Millie had begun using lines from the various episodes. This one was spot on as I had done something jolly with my hair.

  I leaned back in my chair. “Why, yes, m’lady, I have. Actually, I parted it on the other side today. What do you think?”

  Millie shook her head. “It looks good, Alex. Makes your hair look thicker.”

  She was right. I didn’t know why a part on one side would make my hair look fuller, but it did. Maybe I just had more hair on one side than the other. Whatever it was, I liked it, and as Sam had also commented on it earlier, I decided to make it a permanent change.

  Millie handed me some work orders I needed to sign and then slipped a piece of paper onto my desk.

  “It’s Mia’s address,” Millie said to me. “I know she’s not involved in this, Alex, despite how she acted on Friday night. Go talk to her.”