As she passed the front desk where my assistant, Linda Hansen, was helping a student, she stopped. A sly grin curled her lips. I wasn’t sure what that was about.
The remainder of the afternoon passed in a whirl of activity. Everyone wanted to know the latest on the murder. They all went away disappointed. I didn’t know any more than they did.
I’d only been home a few minutes when Bill was at my door. He looked as though he was still in shock at the news of Max’s murder. “How could something like this happen?” It was a rhetorical question, and I didn’t try to answer. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to Drake. What did he have to say?” Everyone assumed that Drake would confide in me.
“Just that Max had been shot. I’m sorry, Bill.” His arms closed around me when I stepped in to give him a hug. For a long moment, we took comfort from each other. He held on a little longer than necessary though. When it became awkward, I moved out of his arms.
“Max didn’t take the money, Holly. I’d bet my life on that.” He sat down at the kitchen table, holding his head in his hands.
“Please don’t put it that way, Bill. Whoever killed Max is still out there. If he thinks you know anything about the embezzlement, he might come after you, too.”
“You’re worried about me, but you aren’t worried about Drake?” He was suddenly angry. “Don’t you think I can take care of myself?” There had always been a rivalry between the two brothers. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of that now.
“I don’t want anything to happen to either of you, but it’s Drake’s job to investigate this.” I paused for a moment, remembering the way Max had looked when he came to see me. “You’re in the forest every day. Have you seen Max since he disappeared?”
“No, if I had I would have told him to turn himself in to Drake. Why would you think I’d seen him?”
“He came here a few nights ago. He looked like he’d been sleeping outside. Can you check around to see if you can find where he was hiding? That would be a big help to Drake’s investigation.” Giving Bill an opportunity to help with the investigation might avert more trouble between the brothers. Or it might cause even more trouble. Drake took his duties as police chief very seriously, as he should. But at times, he carried it to the extreme.
“I have a few days’ vacation coming. I’ll start first thing tomorrow.” He was gone before I could stop him. I hoped he’d be careful. He was more impulsive than Drake. If he did find something, I hoped he’d take it to Drake instead of going after the person who killed his uncle on his own.
~~~
“You killed him? Why would you do that?”
“I didn’t have a choice. He was going to tell what we did. He said he wasn’t going to let us get away with this.”
“Did he know about us?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head.
“How did he know what we did? You said no one would figure it out. Why did you have to take everything at once?”
“Because he was going to turn us in. He figured out what we were doing.”
“How did he do that?”
“He’s good, that’s how.” A heavy sigh came over the telephone line. “Or he was good. He can’t hurt us anymore.”
“I thought you had everything under control. Do you think he told Holly anything when he went to see her?”
“I don’t know what he told her, but I plan on finding out. Max said we did a good job of conning him, but he was better.”
“Can’t we just leave town? If you stopped him from telling anyone about what we did and taking our money, we can still get away. They won’t know where to look for us.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? You know what you’d be losing. Besides, if we leave right now, it would draw unwanted attention. We have to wait.”
“No one was supposed to get hurt. How did it go so wrong?” There was no answer for that.
CHAPTER FOUR
The day before the funeral, Jane returned, looking full of concern for her husband. She swept into the library in a cloud of designer perfume, dressed like she’d just come off the runway at a fashion show. Carrying Hannah over to my desk, she sank down on the edge of the chair. I wasn’t sure why she had come to see me. Shouldn’t she be with her husband?
Her first words answered my unasked question. “Could you watch Hannah for me?” She was holding the baby away from her like she was afraid the smell of the dirty diaper would get on her fancy clothes. “I really need to go home and shower before I go see Jim. It was an exhausting drive, and the baby squealed most of the way. I don’t think Jim needs a crying baby at this time. It’s just terrible about Max. I can’t imagine how Jim is handling this. It’s bad enough that Max stole the town’s money, but now someone murdered him.”
“We don’t know Max stole the money.” I bristled at her automatic assumption that he was guilty. I was convinced he hadn’t done that. I just couldn’t prove it. I was still looking for the trail he said I needed to follow.
“Oh, I know.” She waved that away like it meant nothing. “But who else would have taken the money, if it wasn’t Max?” She stood up, holding Hannah out. It was either take her, or let Jane drop her on my desk. “I’m sure you don’t mind watching her. I know how much you love her.” This wasn’t the first time she’d brought Hannah to me at the library expecting me to watch her.
“Thanks, Holly. I really appreciate this. I know Jim will as well.” She placed the diaper bag on top of my desk, and swept out the door. In dumbfounded silence, I stared at her retreating back.
If she was so worried about her husband, why did it take three days after Max was killed for her to come home? Denver wasn’t that far away. Putting that aside, I looked down at Hannah. “What am I supposed to do with you, Sweetie?” She squirmed in my arms. Her little face was flushed, and when I tried to set her down on top of my desk, she stiffened, arching her back. How long she had been confined to her car seat with a dirty diaper? Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have children. Jane was one of them.
Besides the hardware store, Jim and Max had inherited a hundred-acre ranch outside of town. Jane had to pass right by there on her way into town. If she was in need of a shower that badly, why hadn’t she stopped there before bringing Hannah to me?
Of course, that would mean she would have to change the dirty diaper and watch the baby herself. From everything I’d seen since being back in town, Jane did as little of that as possible. There had been a succession of teenage girls that helped her out over the summer. Now that they were back in school, she was on her own. It looked like I was her next choice as a babysitter.
Linda’s face was an angry red when I went to the front desk with the fussing baby in my arms. “It’s high time she came back,” she whispered. “But why did she leave the baby with you?” There was no love lost between Jane and Linda.
Linda was fifteen years older than me. She had been working at the library since I was in high school. I remembered that she’d been married once, but her husband had died shortly after they were married. As a teenager, I always thought she had a crush on Jim. Things hadn’t changed on that score. She hated the much younger woman married to the man she was in love with.
After Jim and Mom were divorced, she might have been hoping Jim would notice her. Instead, he had stayed single until he met Jane two years ago. Linda didn’t try to hide her feelings for Jane now.
“She said she needed a shower before she went to see Jim.” I couldn’t look her in the eye when I made the excuse. There was a lot more I wanted to say, but that would only fuel her hatred towards the younger woman. “I need to change her diaper. I’ll be right back.”
Placing Hannah on the counter in the ladies room, I stripped off the soaking wet and dirty diaper. I gasped at her red bottom. “You poor thing. It’s no wonder you didn’t want to sit down,” I said in a cooing voice. “I wouldn’t want to sit in that mess either. I bet your bottom hurts.” With as many babies as my parents had over the
years, I was more than qualified to care for Hannah. At least better qualified than Jane appeared to be, I thought. That didn’t mean she should just drop her off when it was convenient for her. I was going to have to put a stop to this now, or it would only get worse. I felt sorry for Hannah though.
With a clean diaper and salve on her bottom, Hannah was happy again. She didn’t want to be confined though. There was a children’s area in the library, but it wouldn’t do to turn an eleven-month-old loose in there. My phone was ringing when I got back to my desk. “Pine Mountain Public Library, this is Miss Foster. How may I help you?” I bounced Hannah on my hip while I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder.
“Did I see Jane pull out of the library parking lot a few minutes ago?” Jim’s voice held a world of frustration.
“Yes.” I didn’t need to say any more. Hannah’s baby chatter told him why Jane had been at the library. “Didn’t she stop at the store to let you know she was back?” I asked.
“No, I guess she didn’t think it was necessary. I’ll be over to get Hannah as soon as I can. Right now there are several customers in the store, and I’m alone. I’m sorry about this, Holly.”
Jim had two employees, but they didn’t work full time. He also had a couple of high school boys who went in after school. They wouldn’t be there for another couple of hours. “It’s all right, Jim. She’ll be fine until you can get here. There’s no rush.” Replacing the telephone in its cradle, I looked down at Hannah. “What am I going to do with you?”
She smiled up at me around the thumb she’d stuck in her mouth. Rummaging around in the diaper bag to see if there was anything for her to eat, I came up empty. “Did Mommy even feed you?” It looked like it didn’t matter. With a clean, dry diaper, her eyes were beginning to droop.
I couldn’t imagine Jane driving all the way from Denver to Pine Mountain in one day, but I didn’t think she would want to spend the night in a hotel alone with the baby either. She wasn’t much of a mother.
Carefully spreading a blanket from the diaper bag on the floor, I laid Hannah down. She was asleep within minutes. She was still sleeping an hour later when Jim hurried across the lobby to my desk. “I’m sorry about this, Holly.” He looked around for his daughter. “Did Jane come back for Hannah?”
I gave a soft chuckle. “No, she’s asleep under my desk. Hasn’t Jane been to the store to see you?” A frown creased my forehead.
A mask fell over his face in an effort not to show his disappointment in his young wife. “She’s probably unpacking from her trip. She was gone longer than expected.”
Or taking advantage of being without a baby to care for, and taking a nap, I thought. “You can leave her here if you’d like,” I said instead. “We’ll be closing soon anyway. If she wakes up before that, I’ll give you a call.”
“I hate to impose on you like that, Holly.” He seemed torn between doing as I suggested, and seeing his daughter.
“I don’t mind helping you with her.” I hoped I hadn’t put too much emphasis on the one word. “She’s a good baby, and no trouble.”
“I wish her mother…” He stopped himself from saying more. “Thanks for this, Holly. I really appreciate it. Give me a call when she’s awake.” Placing a kiss on my cheek, he turned to leave. His shoulders drooped as though the weight of the world rested there.
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He’d gotten himself in a jam when he married Jane. I hoped he’d been wise enough to have her sign a pre-nup before they got married. If not, I feared for his family ranch when, not if, she decided she’d had enough of small town living. In my estimation, she had married him looking at what was in it for her.
The library closed at five on most days. With the last customer gone, I walked across the tile floor to lock the door. Drake pushed it open before I got there. “Sorry sir, the library’s closed for the day,” I teased. Linda had left a few minutes before, so I wanted to keep things light between us.
“Very funny. I just came to check how things were going. I heard Jane dropped Hannah off for you to take care of.” He shook his head, a lock of sun bleached hair dropping into his eyes. “Did Dad come get her?” He looked around for her now.
“She fell asleep so I told him to leave her here. She should be waking up pretty soon.” As if on cue, we heard fussing coming from my desk. Before we got to her, Hannah had crawled out of the knee hole. Her lower lip quivered as she looked around at the strange surroundings.
“Hey, there Sweetie. Did you have a good nap?” Her big blue eyes were liquid with unshed tears. We stooped down so we weren’t looming over her.
Drake picked her up, settling her on his arm. “Oh, um, I hope Jane left some diapers.” There was a wet spot on the sleeve of his uniform shirt when he held her out to me.
Her laughter bubbled up at him. “You want the honors this time?” I asked. “I changed a dirty diaper when Jane dropped her off.”
His face hardened. “She has no business having a baby. It was just a way to rope Dad into marrying her.” That made me wonder if Jane had been pregnant when they got married. “When she leaves here, I’m going to make sure she leaves this one behind.” He nuzzled Hannah’s neck making her giggle. I noticed he said when, not if, she left here.
Picking up the diaper bag, I reached for Hannah. “It won’t take but a minute to change her. We’ll be right back.” She giggled again when he tickled under her chin. Instead of staying by my desk as I expected, he followed beside me.
He stood in the doorway to the Ladies’ room holding the door open. Since we didn’t have to worry about any library patrons needing the facilities, I decided not to object. I was certain he’d changed a diaper or two. Jane would be glad to let anyone have diaper duty so she didn’t have to.
When I pulled the tape off the diaper, Hannah braced her feet on the counter, lifting her bottom off the wet surface. “What happened to her bottom?” He stepped up beside me.
“Diaper rash,” I said, trying not to make a big deal out of it. In fact, it was looking a lot better since I put the salve on it.
“That isn’t normal, is it?” Although Jim had been married several times and had more children after Drake, he didn’t have the experience with babies that I did.
“No, she sat in a dirty diaper for a while on the drive back from Denver. By tomorrow at this time, it will be all gone.” If Jane keeps her dry and uses the salve, I silently qualified. A muscle in his jaw jumped when he clenched his teeth to keep any unkind thoughts from pouring out.
Jim was standing at the locked doors when we came out of the restroom. His face lit up when he saw Drake was holding Hannah. Jane might be immune to her daughter’s charms, but she had her daddy wrapped around her little finger.
“Hi there, Pumpkin.” He took her from Drake, nuzzling her neck much the same as Drake had done a few minutes ago. “I’ve missed you.”
“Dada,” she responded to his cooing voice, reaching out to pat his face. I thought he was going to melt into a puddle right there. I hoped for her sake, when one of them decided to end the marriage, Jim got custody of Hannah. Otherwise, she would be sadly neglected.
“Where’s Jane?” Drake asked. His tone left no doubt about his feeling for the woman. “Did she even bother to come see you?”
“Don’t start, Drake,” Jim warned. “We’ve been over this before.” The muscle jumped in Drake’s jaw again, but he kept further thoughts to himself.
Grabbing my purse, I followed them outside. The wind had picked up since the morning, and the air had a chill that cut to the bone. I rummaged in the diaper bag for a sweater for Hannah. Not finding one, I wrapped the blanket she’d slept on around her until Jim could get her in his pickup. “She’s going to be hungry,” I told him. “I didn’t find anything in the diaper bag for her to eat before she fell asleep.” The muscle in Jim’s jaw jumped now, but he didn’t say anything.
As he was putting Hannah in the car seat, Jane’s sports car pulled into the library parking l
ot. She rushed over to him, all mushy and full of apologies. “I’m so sorry, darling.” She leaned towards him for a kiss, but he pulled away. She ignored Hannah.
“Where’ve you been?” Jim asked, stepping away from her.
“I didn’t want you to see me the way I looked after that long drive, so I went home to shower. I lay down for just a minute to rest, but fell asleep instead. I just woke up. I’m so sorry.” Hannah was used to being ignored by her mother, and didn’t seem to mind now.
“So you left Hannah with Holly?”
“I know how hard Max’s death has been on you. I didn’t think you’d want to see her when she was fussy.”
“I always want to see her.” His manner softened only slightly when her eyes teared up. I didn’t know how she could produce tears on command.
Jim turned away from his wife when Hannah began to fuss in her car seat. “She’s probably hungry. You didn’t have anything in the bag so Holly could feed her.” It sounded like an indictment. Jane stiffened at his words, but was wise enough not to argue. “Thanks for taking care of her, Holly,” he said. Placing a kiss on my cheek, he avoided making eye contact with his son, knowing what he would see there.
It was a twenty minute drive to their ranch, and instead of making the baby wait any longer for something to eat, Jim pulled across the street to the diner. Dennis and Darlene had three small grandkids and a menu especially for the little ones. Jane didn’t bother to thank me for watching Hannah when she got in her car following Jim’s pickup across the street. Did she realize she’d made a big mistake with her husband?
“I don’t know what he was thinking when he got caught in her web.” Drake shook his head as though shaking off a bad dream. “I’m hungry, but I’m not going to the diner as long as she’s there with Dad. I’ve had all I can take of her for one day. Care to join me at The Steak House?” With only three real restaurants in town, there weren’t a lot of choices. Fast food didn’t count as a meal in my book.
Never Con A Con Man (An Arizona High Country Mystery Book 1) Page 5