by Lynn Cahoon
“I wasn’t…” I stopped talking. I had been questioning her actions. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude and intrusive.”
“You were neither. Just curious. And that’s not a problem—well, except for cats.” She picked up a spoon and tasted the soup. “Let me know if you want the soup hotter or the quiche warmed up. We can pop it in the microwave for a few minutes.”
I tasted the soup, which was perfect. “No, this will be great. Thank you for lunch. You didn’t have to do this.”
Esmeralda sipped another spoonful of soup, watching me. “You’re right, I didn’t have to; I just wanted you to see me as normal. Like a regular neighbor, you know.”
“You are a regular neighbor, but I’m not sure normal fits your style.” I smiled as I took another bite. “Not in a bad way, but no one would ever call you boring.”
“You’re honest; that’s what I like about you. I guess it’s silly, but I want you to like me. Not to think I’m just the crazy woman who lives next door.”
I started to speak, but she shook her head.
“Don’t. This isn’t about you or how you see me. I just haven’t told anyone here in South Cove much about my past. And I’m scared, just a little.” She smiled and leaned back against the chair.
“I know a little more now that Jake told us about your childhood.” Esmeralda and her friend Jake had been part of a Halloween weekend Greg and I had attended. One where a real-life ghost had shown its powers. Or at least that’s what I thought. Greg still thought it had been one of the other people staying there, or the crazy handyman who’d been tasked with caring for the house. “You grew up in New Orleans and were a foster kid in a big, loving family that took in a lot of kids.”
“And taught them the art of the scam.”
Not knowing what to say, I reverted to my comfort zone. I took a bite of the quiche. “This is really good.”
“You are a mystery, Jill Gardner.” Esmeralda sipped her tea. “So anyway, I learned about scams at a young age. That was what funded the household, but my foster parents had the gift of prophecy too. So when they saw my natural talent in what you call fortune-telling, I was given more training in developing my power.”
“You’re telling me they taught you to be a psychic? And to scam people out of money?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know this, because if Greg found out, he might have to fire her from her police dispatch job.
“I never stole or did anything illegal. Probably skimmed that edge a few times, but nothing that would jeopardize my job.” She sipped her tea again, clearly nervous about my reaction to what she was saying. “Anyway, I knew the scams, even though I didn’t participate. I think that’s what’s happening with your aunt. I believe someone is running a con on her.”
“I agree.” I had almost finished my soup, so I set down my spoon and focused on Esmeralda. “Look, I’m not going to give you grief over what happened in your childhood. But if you know who’s doing this, I really need a name.”
“I don’t know who’s doing it, but I recognize the con. Usually, it happens closer to when the guy dies. And it’s always played on grieving widows. I guess they don’t think a man would be as willing to push away reality for a good story.” Esmeralda stared at something over my shoulder. “My foster father was really good at manipulating people’s emotions, especially around death. Your aunt wants to believe. Her head is telling her that it’s not true, but in her heart, she feels a need to find out.”
“Even if it means throwing away a new love with a good man?” Pushing away the now empty bowl, I could feel my aunt’s pain. She probably hurt every time someone asked her why she’d broken off the engagement. I knew she had kept the wedding planning book. I’d seen it in her closet one day when I ran upstairs to grab her a sweater. “You don’t think it’s your father who’s doing this, do you?”
“Foster father, and no. He’s been gone for many years now. And his son is running the family business. Nic, he’s not the type to hurt people.” A soft smile creased her face.
I decided not to push that button, but even I could see that Esmeralda was soft on the guy. “So we find out who’s been posing as my uncle. What did you find when you traced the calls?”
“The phone company hasn’t sent back the records yet. We probably won’t get them until the first of the week.” Esmeralda picked up her half-eaten soup and poured it down the drain. “I’m sorry I had to tell you this.”
“Well, at least I know my aunt isn’t crazy now. I didn’t realize this was such a common scam. Paula talked about how the elderly were targeted, but you never think it’s going to hit so close. My aunt is smarter than that.” At least I’d thought so when I heard about the different fraud scams. Which reminded me, I needed to find out if she’d actually given the guy any money yet. It looked like I was going back into town this afternoon to talk to her again.
“Well, I’ll let you know if any of my leads come up with something. I reached out to some of the old family. If someone is doing this con full time, they’ll know about it.” She picked up my plate and bowl. “You must have liked my cooking.”
“Are you kidding? You’re a great cook. No wonder I don’t see you much in Diamond Lille’s.” I could feel my invitation was drawing to an end.
“I like cooking. It helps me think. And the spirits leave me alone when I’m in the kitchen. I think they are afraid they’ll scare me and I’ll hurt myself.” She set the dishes in the sink. “I guess I’d better get back. The station is swamped now with this murder. Can you believe someone just walked into a house and shot the guy?”
“Greg doesn’t have any leads?” I wondered who would want to see Ben dead, except anyone who liked Paula at all. Which was a lot of people.
“He doesn’t, and that bothers me. The spirits are too quiet on this subject. I think there’s some darkness around this guy.” We walked out to the porch, where she locked the door.
“I don’t think he was a good guy either.” I could believe Esmeralda’s insight into Ben after talking to Paula today. But there was no way the woman had the spine to kill him. She wouldn’t know how and would have had to ask for permission. At least that was my take.
“Just make sure you keep your doors locked. We’re too isolated out here by the highway.” Esmeralda started jogging toward town and back to work.
I crossed the street and went to my back door to let Emma out. While she explored the fence line around the yard, I sat in the swing and thought about everything. Aunt Jackie, Greg and the murder, Paula, and even Amy and her upcoming wedding. The thoughts were swirling together and mixing up, so I grabbed my notebook out of my tote. For the next twenty minutes, I wrote down everything people had told me and things I’d thought about. One page per person.
Then I read through what I’d written. It looked like a mixture of The Guide to a Perfect Wedding and a Guidebook to Murder—How to Kill the One You Love. Books: I always related problems to books. And this was no exception. I put Emma in the house and walked back into town.
I needed to talk to my aunt.
When I got there, I was surprised to see Toby still working the coffee bar. Then I glanced at my watch. It was only two. My aunt didn’t come on shift until five. He was busy with someone, so I just waved as I walked by and went into the back. Then I headed up the inside stairs and hoped I wouldn’t wake her from a nap. Grumpy Aunt Jackie was hard enough to deal with. Tired and grumpy Aunt Jackie was impossible.
I listened at the door and heard the television. A good sign. I lifted my hand to knock and the door flew open.
“Oh, it’s you. What are you doing, skulking around my hallway?” My aunt held what appeared to be a baseball bat. And by the way she held it, I was apparently the ball.
“Whoa, slugger.” I raised my hand and lowered the bat. I’d known she’d bought a bat for the shop, but I didn’t know about the one in her apartment. “Are you feeli
ng threatened? Maybe we need to talk about home security rather than hand weapons.”
“I don’t need security. Although I believe someone has been on my back porch recently. One of my pots was knocked over. They cleaned up the mess, but I could tell.” My aunt let me take the bat and motioned to the umbrella stand where, apparently, it resided. She turned and walked into the small kitchen to the left of the apartment. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you went off-shift a few hours ago. Don’t tell me Toby bailed on us.”
I knew who had been on the porch, so I wasn’t as worried as I had been when she answered the door with the baseball bat. “Toby’s working. I was talking to Esmeralda about your situation and…”
She pushed a cup of coffee at me. “First you tell your boyfriend, now the town fortune-teller? I guess I can’t have any secrets in this town.”
“I didn’t tell her. Greg had her looking into the calls. So she knew.” I climbed onto one of the stools and sipped my coffee. “She said there’s a con out there that mirrors what’s been happening to you.”
“And how did she come by this piece of information?” Jackie eased herself onto one of the stools next to me. She winced, and I could see the activity had aggravated her pain. “Or did the spirits tell her?”
“You think you’ve been talking to my dead uncle, so I’m not sure you have the moral high ground here.” My aunt turned red and I knew I’d crossed that invisible line. “Don’t get mad. I’m here to help, not to argue.”
Aunt Jackie started to speak, but took a sip of coffee first. “I’m sorry about that. I’m edgy and feeling like a silly old woman. If it’s Ted calling, he got away with disappearing right under my nose. If it’s not, then I’m the gullible, grieving widow, searching for one speck of hope. Neither of the roles fits my personality.”
“I don’t think its Uncle Ted, and I don’t believe you do either.” I leaned back on the stool. “How much money did you give him?”
She stared holes through me. Finally, she spoke. “I didn’t. I probably would have, if you hadn’t gotten involved and made me question everything. I’d taken the money out of my portfolio and had it in my checking account. I was planning on sending it this week.”
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s your money and you can do what you want with it. But I just don’t want someone skimming it off you. Not,” I paused, then continued, “not unless you understand what is really happening.”
“You were going to say ‘not again.’” My aunt looked older than I’d seen her in years. “I know I messed up before. I trusted the wrong person. That’s not going to happen again. And I have you to thank for that. If you hadn’t stuck your nose in this, I would have been taken again.”
“Let’s not think about that.” I pulled my notebook out of my tote. “So tell me everything that happened.”
She sipped her coffee. “Are you sure? Greg doesn’t like you sniffing around his cases.”
“Greg’s busy with the murder of that guy. He’s not going to mind. Especially because it will keep me out of his investigation, where he’ll constantly have to worry.” I opened to a blank page. “Are you ready?”
“I think your logic is a little flawed, but I want to know what’s going on just as much as you seem to want to investigate.” My aunt sipped her coffee, looking at me. “I guess I’m going to have to trust you on this.”
“I’ll keep you in the loop on every step I take.” I held my pen over the page. “So, are you ready to tell me what happened?”
“Might as well.” My aunt set down her cup and traced a circle with her finger. “The first call came in the day before Amy’s engagement party. He told me he’d been moved out of state, that his death had been faked and he was in witness protection.”
As she talked, I wrote down everything. Some things word for word. I had to know the whole story before I could look for patterns. Finally, my aunt stopped talking. I made a few more notes, then looked up. “Tell me about the voice. Besides Uncle Ted, are you sure you’d never heard the voice before? In person, I mean?”
Aunt Jackie shook her head. “Actually, now that I think about it, I can’t even say if it sounded like Ted or not. I guess I wanted it to be true for so long, I thought I might have wished it into being. This is why I didn’t want to tell you. I do sound like a silly old woman.”
“You don’t. You sound like someone who’s always dealt with problems head-on.” I patted her hand. “I’m checking into Uncle Ted’s death certificate. Did you get a copy after the funeral?”
“I must have. I had to transfer accounts from joint to single. And I had to send one to that sleazy broker I had who stole my money.” My aunt brightened. “Do you think this might be the same guy? We couldn’t press charges then because he’d taken off for some island, but if he’s back, maybe I can get some of the other money back. He’d know enough about Ted and me to do it.”
“Give me his name and I’ll have Greg check him out.” I knew I was making promises for my boyfriend that he might not be able to keep. At least not until he solved the murder investigation on his desk. But I had to start somewhere. I put down my pen and finished off the coffee. “So about Harrold…”
Aunt Jackie cut me off like I’d said a swear word. “I’m not putting Harrold through this. I made my decision and I’ll stand by it, even if my reasons were not so solid in hindsight. A girl can’t just break, then unbreak an engagement. It’s all about trust. He’d never trust me again.”
Chapter 7
Harrold stopped by the shop at about eight thirty Friday morning. He slipped off his light jacket and draped it across the stool. He glanced around the shop. “Looks like the place is clear. Jackie must still be upstairs?”
“If I know her, she’s just getting ready to sit down and start watching her shows. She really likes her talk shows.” I picked up a coffee cup. “What can I get you?”
“Just decaf. Black.” He patted his stomach. “I have to stay in shape in case your aunt comes to her senses. She likes my body.”
“TMI.” I laughed as I poured the coffee. “Please don’t talk about you and my aunt.”
“Now, Jill, you have to know that older people have needs too.” His eyes twinkled as he watched my reaction. “Anyway, I didn’t come in to tease you about how sexy I think your aunt is. I came in to see if you had gotten any farther on getting her out of the apartment. I think I can have everything ready by next weekend. Maybe she and Mary could have a girls’ day in the city?”
“I’ll see what I can do. She knows someone’s been out there. I guess you knocked over a plant?” I sat next to him with my own cup of coffee. “You’re going to have to be more careful if you have to take measurements.”
Harrold set down his cup and stared at me. “I haven’t been up on the porch since your aunt dumped me. I had this project planned as an engagement present, so I already had all the measurements.”
I saw the concern flash in his eyes. “I’m sure it’s the neighborhood cat, then. We have a problem with feral cats running around the neighborhood. But every time I call the pound, they just disappear. They’re smart.”
“You’re right, it’s probably one of the cats. I think Jackie was feeding them, which is why they keep hanging around.” He took a sip of his coffee, but even I could see I hadn’t convinced him with my answer.
“I hear you’ve been eating a lot at Diamond Lille’s. I can’t believe your friends with Lille. What is she like when she’s not being a raving witch?” Changing the subject was one of my specialties, especially when the conversation got too deep.
He laughed and took another sip. “You remind me a lot of her. She’s strong, determined, and willing to do anything for people she loves. Which works in my favor. The girl was a godsend after Agnes passed away. I definitely will never starve with her in my camp. But, then again, I may have to buy the next-size pants. I’m too well fed, I’m afr
aid.”
I squeezed his arm. “You’re just right. Besides, you deserve to be pampered.” I didn’t add after what my aunt had done to him, but I think he got the point.
“Well, I’d better get out of here before your aunt pops in and finds me here.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket. “Would you be a dear and order these books for me? I have a lot more time to read now, and I’m afraid I’m running out of material.”
“Of course. Do you want me to call when they’re in?” I glanced down at the list of mostly historical fiction and nonfiction.
“That would be nice. And I’ll come in the morning again to avoid any unpleasantness.” He stood and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you. I have to admit, I was looking forward to having a new niece in my life.”
I wanted to say it might still happen, but I didn’t want to give him false hope. Especially because my aunt was as stubborn as a bull not wanting to leave the barn. That might not be the right analogy, but it kind of fit. “You’re still a part of my life, no matter what my crazy aunt does. I don’t think Greg would mind me sneaking around with an older man.”
Laughing, he put his jacket back on. “You are a lot like your aunt, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
I watched him leave and thought about what he had said. I wasn’t at all like my aunt. She was all business and brusque. Me, I’d rather be lost in a book than worrying about customers not coming into the shop. To prove I was not like my aunt at all, I grabbed my coffee and the book I’d been pretending to read all morning and headed to the couch.
Deek found me still there when he came in for his shift. He dropped down across from me. “Whoa, Boss. What has you down in the dumps?”
“What are you talking about? I’m in my happy place.” Which I was, but I’d been reading the same page for over an hour now. I kept thinking about Aunt Jackie. And Harrold. And Paula.
“I don’t think so, but I won’t push. Besides, I got something for you yesterday when I was at class in Bakerstown.” He pulled out a piece of paper. “Ta-da. Here’s the death certificate for your uncle. Trina, the girl I know, said it was filed wrong.”