A Killer Christmas Party

by Nicole Ellis

  I held my finger up. “Hold on.” I rummaged around in my purse for the piece of paper I’d found in Mila’s book. After a few false starts, I plucked it from the depths of my bag.

  She’d written Calvado Building. I grabbed my phone and did an internet search for Calvado Building.

  “Desi,” I hissed, “the Calvado Building was that one that caught on fire in Seattle years ago and the floor collapsed under the firefighters. Four of them were killed.”

  “Oh. That’s right. I knew I’d heard of it before.” She stopped to think. “Do you think they’re related?”

  “They have to be.” I held up the piece of paper I’d found in Mila’s book. “What are the odds that I’d find this on Mila’s desk and then the Calvado Group comes up now too?”

  “True.” She took the paper from me, rubbing her fingers across the words. “So Mila did find something out about the men being conned—and the wrong person found out she knew.”

  “Yeah. So now we just have to figure out who’s behind the Calvado Group.”

  “I’ll do some digging tomorrow,” Desi said. “There has to be some official record of it on file with the state.”

  “Tomorrow’s Saturday. I don’t think you’ll be able to find out much until Monday.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Her face fell. “So, what now?”

  “I’m not sure, but maybe we’ll find out something else when we’re at Ericksville Heights tomorrow for the Christmas party.”

  “A little spy work while we’re serving cookies?” she asked.

  “Something like that.” The information in this case was trickling in, but not fast enough for my liking. It seemed like we kept getting little pieces of the puzzle, but nothing to glue them all together. I hoped I was right that we’d find out more the next day.

  “It’s only for the night.” Adam lifted an extra blanket off the top shelf in our guest room. “Will doesn’t want to stay at Mom and Dad’s because he feels so much pressure from Mom to move up here. He really unloaded on me when we were out tonight.” He put the blanket down on the bed and I helped him smooth it out. “It’s funny. I always thought of him as being so together and now I find out that his life is crumbling around him.”

  I glanced at the hallway, but I didn’t see or hear Will, who we’d left watching TV in the living room. “What did he say about Tania? Does he want to stay with her?”

  I heard a noise in the hallway and went to check it out, but it was just Goldie. He came into the guest bedroom, turned around a few times, then curled up on the floor.

  “He’s so confused by everything that he doesn’t know. I told him to sleep on it and see how he feels in the morning. Maybe if he’s away from her and Mom, he’ll be able to think more clearly.”

  “That makes sense.” I tucked the bottom corner of the blanket under the mattress. “Your mom really hates Tania though. I’ve never seen her act like that before.”

  Adam sighed. “He probably wouldn’t be too happy that I’m telling you this.” He cast a furtive glance at the hallway and lowered his voice. “Right before they were married, Tania cheated on Will. He forgave her, but Mom found out about it and never has forgiven Tania for hurting her firstborn son.”

  “Ouch. But still. I’m glad she doesn’t hate me. She’s tough when she wants to be.” I shuddered, imagining again what my life would be like if I didn’t have a good relationship with Beth.

  “Me too.” He smiled and came around to wrap his arms around me. “Promise if there’s ever anything that’s bothering you about our relationship that you’ll tell me?”

  “If you promise to never have a mid-life crisis and move us to an island B and B, yeah. I can do that.” I laughed and kissed him. “Or if you do, let’s talk about it first, ok?”

  “I can agree to that.” He glanced at the hall. “I’d better get back to Will. Can you make sure that Mikey’s asleep? I put him to bed, but he seems pretty amped-up.”

  “Sure.” I couldn’t imagine not being amped-up after an evening with Will’s girls. They were so full of energy that it was probably like being at a fascinating carnival for Mikey and Anthony. I had to admit, I liked seeing them in small doses, but I wasn’t sure about having them move up here.

  “Hey, before you go. Do you remember a fire at the Calvado Building in Seattle?”

  “Yeah, the news covered it for days. One of the clients of my law firm owned the building and was blamed for the condition of the building.”

  “Who was it?” Adam was usually pretty close-mouthed about any of his clients, but I hoped he’d make an exception this time.

  He regarded me carefully, as if weighing his options, then sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter now. We were the attorneys on record for his company. Harry Pearson owned the building. He always claimed that he didn’t know that the conditions were that bad and I think he spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it as well as he could.” He kissed me on the cheek. “See you later.” He strode off toward the living room, with Goldie hot on his heels.

  So Harry Pearson had owned the Calvado Building. I knew he was wrapped up in all of this, even if his son denied a connection. But how did that all fit into the rest of it—the investment scam and the possible murders of the three men, not to mention Mila?

  19

  The day of the Christmas party at the retirement home had arrived. It was scheduled for two o’clock, but I got there at noon to start setting up. I’d left Mikey at home with Adam, but Desi had come early to help me get things ready.

  “All of the decorations are up in the Great Room,” she said.

  “Even the snowflakes that the elementary school made?” I’d found a stack of snowflakes in a box in Mila’s office and decided that they’d add to the festive look.

  “Yep.” She laughed. “And everyone has their noses pressed to the doors, trying to see through those tiny windows what’s going on in there.” She sobered. “Seriously, Jill, it was so nice of you to do this for everyone here. I know Delilah is excited.”

  “Yeah. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but it’s grown on me. Delilah has too. I’m going to try to make time to see her every week after this.”

  “I get the feeling she doesn’t have company often. I’ll try to do the same and ask if Mom can stop by too.” She picked up my notebook. “Is there anything else I can do right now?”

  “You can start setting up the refreshments table. The kitchen prepared some light appetizers and a local women’s club brought by at least twenty dozen cookies. We need to set up some of those longer tables there and put tablecloths on them. I think you can ask one of the men from maintenance to help you move it.”

  “Ooh. I hope Mabel Swanson was one of the women who made cookies. I’ve been dying to get my hands on her gingerbread cookie recipe. If she made them this year, maybe I can taste one and reverse engineer it.”

  I fought to keep from laughing. Desi’s mind was never far from sweets. “Maybe.” I looked at the list too. “I’ve got to get the Santa suit out of Alfred and Mila’s office before our Santa arrives. I’ll come help you when I’m done.”

  “Ok.” She went off to find someone to help her move the tables and I went to Alfred’s office.

  Alfred had taken the day off, so I was surprised to see the light on under the door and hear someone moving around in his office, slamming the file cabinet closed. Unease stirred in the pit of my stomach. It was probably just Nurse Fluge getting some patient files out. Still, I approached the door and quietly pushed it open, peeking around the corner. The first thing that caught my eye was shiny silver streamers.

  I flung it open. “Delilah? What are you doing in here?”

  She stepped back quickly and stumbled. I managed to get to her before she could fall sideways.

  She put her hand over her heart. “You startled me.”

  “I didn’t expect anyone to be in here either.” I stared at the open drawer containing the employee records. “Are you snooping?”

&n
bsp; She blushed. “I’m trying to figure out what’s going on around here. Goodness knows the police aren’t doing anything about it.” She nudged the drawer shut with her walker.

  I frowned. “That’s not entirely true.”

  “Oh, I know you weren’t telling me the whole truth earlier,” she said. “But you probably didn’t want to upset me, right?”

  She had me there.

  “I’m a lot stronger than people give me credit for.” She straightened her hunched back and gripped the handles of her walker.

  “I’m not disputing that,” I said carefully. “But Mila was killed for what she found out.”

  “I know. And someone needs to pay for that.” She jutted her chin out. “I’m going to head back to my room now to freshen up before the party starts.”

  I watched her go, faster than I would have thought. I want to be just like her when I’m old.

  I grabbed the Santa suit out of the corner and headed back to the kitchen. Now, not only did I have to worry about my own safety, but I’d also failed to keep Delilah out of the investigation and had her safety to worry about as well. Whoever had killed Mila needed to be found—and fast.

  “Killer party, ma’am,” a man in his twenties wearing a tie-dyed shirt said when I came to check on how things were going at their table. “Grandpa’s really enjoying it.”

  I smiled. “Thanks. The community helped a bunch.” I’d been impressed by the family turnout for the party and was now thankful that the local women’s club had made so many cookies for it.

  Santa would be coming in soon to sit by the fire and take pictures with the kids and the kids at heart. The round tables were full of people smiling and laughing together. By all accounts, the party was a roaring success.

  But where was Delilah? I knew the party was important to her, so I’d expected to find her sitting at the front of the room with her daughter. I’d been to every table and she wasn’t there. I knocked on her door, but there was no answer, so I checked to see if Desi had seen her.

  “Delilah?” Desi wrinkled her face in thought. “No, you’re right. I haven’t seen her recently. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t even realize she wasn’t here. I talked to her earlier though, and I don’t think her daughter was going to be able to make it after all.”

  “Oh, and she’d been looking forward to seeing her. That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah, she was pretty broken up about it. She was supposed to go home with her daughter for Christmas too, and now she’s stuck here.”

  That explained why she had been off in Alfred’s office snooping in his files instead of spending time with her daughter and enjoying the festivities.

  “I’ll check for her in her room again.” I went down the hall and stopped in front of Delilah’s door, then knocked on it. There wasn’t any answer.

  “Delilah?” I called out. Still nothing. I hoped she was ok. The doorknob turned easily, and I swept my eyes over her small room and the open door to the bathroom. No Delilah.

  I found Desi again.

  “Is she ok?” Desi asked.

  “I can’t find her. She’s not in her room. Do you think she went outside or something?” It was below freezing, and the thought of her being out there alone was concerning.

  “I’ll ask one of her friends that I saw her talking with last week.” Desi jetted off across the room, stopping at a table that was occupied by an elderly man and what looked to be his grandchildren. I saw him gesture in the direction of the door and my stomach lurched.

  Desi returned a minute later. “He said he saw her head back to the kitchen.”

  “Oh, I’m so happy to hear that. Maybe she wanted to help with the party.” I frowned, thinking about our discussion earlier. “I’d like to make sure she’s ok though.”

  “Yeah. I want to make sure she’s ok too. I feel awful about her daughter not coming today. I’ll come with you to find her.”

  We walked back to the kitchen, but Delilah wasn’t there. I asked around and none of the staff had seen her.

  “Ok, what now?” I asked.

  “Where else would she be?” Desi looked out the window and pointed to the back of the kitchen where there was an exterior door. “She could still have gone outside.”

  I ran to the window. “I don’t see her on the lawn or in the gardens.”

  “We should go outside,” Desi said. “What if she’s hurt or something?”

  We grabbed coats from where we’d stashed them in the kitchen and walked toward the back door. We were about to go outside when something silver in the corner caught my eye.

  “Desi, stop.”

  “What? Do you see her?”

  “No, but look at that.” I pointed at Delilah’s walker, standing forlorn in the corner of the mudroom area just inside the door. I had a sinking feeling about the abandoned walker.

  “She must be around here somewhere. She wouldn’t go far without that.” Desi turned in a circle. “There.” She pointed at a door that was open a crack. “Where does that go?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve only ever been in the kitchen and the public areas of Ericksville Heights. This place is old and probably has a rabbit warren of rooms.”

  “Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Desi opened the door and flipped on a light switch. “Hey, there are stairs here. I bet it goes to the basement.”

  I hadn’t even known the building had a basement, but it made sense that they’d have one in a building this old. Even with the light on, it looked like a gaping hole, and I couldn’t see the end of the staircase.

  “Delilah?” I called down the stairs. No answer.

  Desi tried too. “Delilah? Are you down there?”

  “What if she fell down the stairs or something?” I asked. “We’ve got to go down there and find her.”

  Desi stared at the basement. “Are we sure she’s not outside?”

  “No, this was right next to her walker. If she’d gone outside, she would have taken it with. She couldn’t have taken it down the stairs very easily.”

  She sighed. “Fine, let’s go. But you’re going first. This place is creepy.”

  “Ok, but wait.” I ran to where I’d left my purse in the kitchen and retrieved the Maglite I kept in there.

  I led the way down the stairs and we came out on an open space with a boiler furnace and a web of steam pipes.

  “Wow,” Desi said, looking up. “This place is massive.”

  “No kidding. At least you won’t feel claustrophobic down here.”

  I stepped on something that stuck to my shoe and fought to get it off.

  “What are you doing?” Desi asked. “You look like an electrocuted octopus.”

  “There’s something sticking to my shoe,” I grumbled. Finally I took it off and peeled off a cherry Life Savers.

  “A Life Savers …” Desi said in a breathy voice.

  “Yeah. She’s got to be down here.” With renewed vigor, I shouted for Delilah again. “Which way do you think she went?”

  “That way.” Desi pointed straight ahead. “Look on the floor.”

  Another Life Savers.

  “It’s like she’s leaving a trail for us.” We were out of the dim light from the stairway and I switched on my flashlight, shining the bright beam ahead of us.

  “Or for herself.” Desi looked from side to side as we walked. “These hallways are getting narrower.”

  To our left were a series of doors. I pushed each of them open and shone the flashlight into them. Each of them was a small room that would barely fit a twin bed. All of them were empty—until we got to the fifth room.

  “Shine the light into the corner of the room,” Desi said.

  I obeyed her and illuminated a small table that someone had been using as a desk. A pen and notepad sat on it and a corkboard hung over it.

  “What is that on there?” she asked, pointing at the mess of papers tacked to the board. “It looks like a newspaper article.”

  We moved closer.

&nbs
p; The front-page headline read, 4 firefighters die in Calvado Building fire, slumlord blamed for poor conditions.

  “Calvado.” My eyes flickered across each item pinned to the corkboard. I pointed at another article. “Harry Pearson owned the building.”

  “What?” Desi moved closer to read it.

  “I forgot to tell you. Adam told me Harry Pearson owned the Calvado Building.” I turned away from the corkboard and turned the light toward the other end of the room.

  “There’s a duffle bag over here.” The bag was unzipped and I spread it open. It was packed with clothing and a passport. With trepidation, I opened the passport and saw the unsmiling face of Nurse Fluge staring up at me. Diana Fluge Marice.

  “Desi,” I said urgently. “Who were the firefighters that were killed? Was one of them named Marice?”

  She ran her finger over the pictures of each of the firefighters. “Yeah, Mark Marice. How did you know?”

  I flipped the passport open to show her. “We need to find Delilah now.”

  20

  “I’ll show you where she is,” said a voice from the door. “I’m sure she’d love company.” Nurse Fluge wacked the flat end of a firefighter’s ax against the palm of her hand as she gave us a crazy smile, then flipped on a headlamp.

  I froze like a deer in the headlights. As I’d feared, she had Delilah. She’d better not have hurt her.

  “Uh …” Desi said, her eyes roving wildly across the room.

  I didn’t see anything we could use as a weapon against Nurse Fluge either. The flashlight was too small to hurt anyone, so I casually stuck it in my coat pocket, hoping she wouldn’t see me.

  Maybe if we could get her to talk, we’d have more time to find something useful.

  Desi must have thought of the same thing. “If your plan all along was to kill Harry Pearson, why kill those other men and take their money too?”

  She shrugged. “I needed to finance my trip to Brazil somehow. It might surprise you, but being a nurse at a retirement home doesn’t bring home the big bucks, especially this place, but when I found out Harry Pearson was living here, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get close to him.”