by Kathi Daley
“Yeah, I realize that, and I don’t want to create any problems if I can avoid it. I’ve worked hard to build a new life here in Maine, and I don’t want to bring any of the drama that may still exist in California here. The Internal Affairs case that involved Ben has been closed, and everything in San Francisco seems to have returned to the status quo. Trust me when I say that I don’t want to do anything that will rock the boat. It’s just that when that woman came up to me and told me about her interview with Ben, I had this overwhelming need to dig just a tiny bit deeper. All that is happening right now is that we are having lunch. If anything comes out of that lunch that causes me to reconsider my decision to let sleeping dogs lie, I’ll let you know.”
Colt placed his hand over mine across the table. “That’s all I can ask.”
The waiter came by to take our orders and drop off a basket of chips and a dish of salsa. We chose our meals, and then I asked Colt about the Wesley Hamilton case, which had been complicated by the remains that had been found beneath him.
“We still don’t know who the other remains belonged to,” Colt answered. “I’ve gone back to search through missing persons reports for the entire state of Maine, but nothing has popped. We’re trying to find dental records that match, but so far, we’ve had no luck. The medical examiner is going to take a closer look at the skeleton to determine an approximate date of death if he can. Given the fact that the remains are completely decomposed, I don’t think we are looking for anyone who went missing all that recently, although the body was buried directly in the ground, so the rate of decomposition would have been accelerated.”
I felt my stomach rumble when the waiter returned with our salads. I realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. No wonder I was hungry. Identifying the second body in the grave was going to be a lot harder if the person who had ended up bunking with Wesley Hamilton had been a visitor who’d just been passing through.
“How long has the Hamilton family plot existed?” I wondered.
“Originally, the little cemetery was a private one located on land owned by the Hamiltons. The oldest gravestone is that of Theodore Hamilton, who died in 1922. I believe he was Jasper Hamilton’s grandfather. The Hamilton house that stands now was built by Theodore’s son, Havilland Hamilton, back in the 1930s. He was Jasper’s father. The bank Jasper established, and the house Havilland built, were handed down to Wesley when Jasper died. According to the information I’ve been able to dig up, Jasper, who was very civic-minded, donated the land surrounding the family cemetery to the town for use as a public one and only kept that corner of the land for private use.”
“So theoretically, Wesley’s little piece of the family plot would have been assigned to him by his father?”
“I suppose that is how it worked, but I’m not sure. Patrice would know, I’m sure, when and how the specific burial site was assigned to Wesley.”
I wondered if there had been any Hamiltons who hadn’t wanted to be buried in the family plot and had forfeited their spot, but I didn’t suppose the answer to that question would help us figure out who the unknown body in Wesley’s grave had been or who had killed either of the occupants we’d found.
“I stopped at the bank on my way to the signing,” I informed Colt. “Martha had heard that Wesley’s body was found and she supplied me with two interesting pieces of information. Three if you count the pool.”
“Pool?”
“It seems the bank employees had a pool going on what had happened to Wesley. He wasn’t at all popular with his employees or his customers. Anyway, Martha mentioned that initially, her money was on a fling. According to her, she saw Wesley locking lips with a woman who was not his fiancée.”
Colt leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, I’ve been told that as well. There are those who think that Wesley’s copious love life makes Kendell a suspect, and others who say that she was in it for the money all along and really didn’t care what Wesley did in his free time.”
“Martha said something similar. She also told me that Wesley argued with Alton West on the day he disappeared. It seems the bank foreclosed on West’s home when he got behind on his mortgage payments while his wife was in the hospital.”
“I spoke to Alton today. He was on my list of town residents who’d gone through a home or business foreclosure since Wesley took over the bank. He freely admitted that he hated Wesley for kicking him when he was already at his lowest and that he had shown up at the bank after an afternoon of drinking and verbally unloaded on the guy. He told me that he left before the bank closed, went home, and passed out. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to verify that because he lives alone since his wife’s death. I’ve left him on the suspect list for now, though personally, I don’t think he’s a murderer. If the killer turns out to be someone Wesley foreclosed on, it will probably be a person who hadn’t had the chance to express to Wesley just how unhappy they were in person.”
“I guess that makes sense. How many people do you still have on your suspect list?”
“I have it down to five. I started with more than two dozen, so five seems manageable now. Three of the five I’ve spoken to have a motive but no alibi, and two who I haven’t managed to track down yet.”
“Have you spoken to Kendall?” I asked.
“I have. If she really was in it for the money, she is playing the part of the shattered fiancée really well. Of course, that doesn’t mean that she couldn’t really be in mourning. With Wesley’s death, her opportunity to get her hands on the Hamilton fortune is gone.”
“I guess Patrice must inherit everything that Wesley inherited from his father. He was an only child.”
“I haven’t had a look at the terms of Wesley’s will yet, so I’m not sure whether his premature death was dealt with in his father’s will, but I suspect that Patrice has control of the entire Hamilton fortune now, unless the money went to someone with Hamilton blood, like an uncle or cousin. I should track down the will to see who does inherit his estate. Money is the second-best motive for murder after love and jealousy.”
Chapter 5
Georgia was already over at the inn when I awoke the next morning, so I decided to take Ramos and Molly for a quick walk along the bluff before joining her for breakfast. I had my lunch date with Sarah Walker today, so I would eat lightly. Normally, I would just grab a muffin to eat at my desk, but I was curious about any progress Dixie had made in looking for her sisters. When I’d first heard Dixie’s story, I’d been surprised that she hadn’t remembered that she had sisters, but when I thought about it, there was very little that I remembered now from when I was four. Most of the memories I did have of that time, if I really stopped to consider, were memories that had probably been instilled in my mind when someone told me a story or showed me a photo, creating an image that stayed with me.
When I arrived in the dining room, I found Dixie and her daughter sitting with Gaylord, Jeremy, and Annabelle. They were chatting and appeared to be having a good time. Georgia, who was standing near the group with a coffeepot in her hand, seemed to be involved in the conversation as well.
“What are you talking about?” I asked as I took a seat next to Gaylord.
“We just saw Ryan off for his job interview,” Dixie informed me.
“I remember Georgia mentioning a guest who was here for a job interview, but I’m afraid I never asked for the specifics.”
Georgia walked over to the sideboard, got us each a coffee cup, and then sat down next to me. “He is here to interview for a job at the Bank of Holiday Bay. He has already been through two internet interviews and was asked to come to town for a face-to-face. He was pretty nervous, so we all cheered him on.”
I took a sip of my coffee. “What sort of job is he applying for?”
“Bank president,” Jeremy said.
I frowned. “I thought Wesley was acting president before his death.”
“Apparently, according to Ryan, the board of trustees was unhappy with the job Wesley had been doin
g, so they’d advertised the position to see who might apply,” Georgia informed me. “Ryan said the application and interview process began almost two months ago, well before Wesley went missing, so it would seem the board had the power to oversee such things no matter who might be in charge.”
I remembered hearing rumors about the board wanting to replace Wesley. I just hadn’t known they were true.
“Ryan told me that the board planned to fire the current president as soon as a new president was hired,” Gaylord added. “It seems the bank has been losing customers in droves since the son of the founder took over.”
“I’m not surprised,” Georgia said. “Everyone I’d spoken to about it was unhappy with his policy changes.”
Okay, this bit of news seemed important. I wasn’t sure how the board’s decision to fire Wesley could have contributed to his death, but I supposed it was something that was worth looking in to.
“Dixie has news too,” Annabelle said during a brief pause in the conversation.
The withdrawn little girl I’d met yesterday seemed to have morphed into a happy, animated child this morning. I was glad to see that both Annabelle and her uncle were settling in. Perhaps I’d talk to Georgia later about my idea of approaching Jeremy with a job offer. She was the one who ran the inn, so whoever we hired to fill in for her when she needed time off and to help her with the yardwork and heavy chores would need to be someone she was comfortable with.
“Oh? And what is Dixie’s news?” I asked.
“Mom may have a lead on one of her sisters,” Holly provided.
I smiled. “That’s wonderful. Which one?”
“Lily,” Dixie answered. “Nothing is certain yet, but one of the dozen people I spoke to yesterday told me that she used to work with a woman named Lily who was the right age to be the youngest of my sisters. Her name is Lily Howard, and she lives about twenty minutes north of here. Now, I know there are a lot of women in the world named Lily, and I have no way of knowing the last name of the couple who adopted her, but Lily Howard was raised right here in Holiday Bay, and according to the woman I spoke to, Lily looks so much like me that we could be twins.”
“That does sound promising,” I said encouragingly. “Who was it who gave you the information?”
“Her name is Gilda. She runs a diner in town. We went to speak to her after we talked to the postmistress, who didn’t remember who’d mailed the package containing the journal but was sympathetic and suggested we do so.”
“Gilda has been around a long time, and she knows a lot of people. She was a good person to talk to. Have you spoken to this Lily yet?” I asked.
Dixie nodded. “Briefly. I called and told her my name and that I was in town looking for my family. I told her that Gilda thought she might be able to help me and asked if she would be willing to have coffee with me. She checked with Gilda, who must have vouched for me because Lily called me back and said she would be willing to meet me. I didn’t tell her about the journal or the fact that she might be my sister. I figured that was a conversation we should have in person. Holly and I are driving north later this morning.”
“I hope it works out for you.” I smiled. “Finding any of the three girls seemed like such a long shot when you first explained why you were here, but with enough time you might be able to pull it off, but to find one of the three after only one day’s search would be truly miraculous.”
“I’m trying not to get too excited,” Dixie said. “This Lily may turn out not to be my Lily, and even if she is my sister, she might not be thrilled that I’ve shown up in her life after all these years.”
“Why wouldn’t she be happy to meet you?” Annabelle asked. “If I had a sister, I would be so happy. We could share secrets and hang out all the time. Being an only child sucks.”
“We aren’t sure that Lily knows she was adopted,” Holly explained. “If Lily Howard does turn out to be our Lily and she hadn’t previously known about the adoption, it could be a pretty big piece of news to swallow.”
After a bit of back and forth about whether they thought Lily would be happy to be found by a long lost sister or totally freaked out by the whole thing, Jeremy shared with them that his search for a job that would allow him to live in the area hadn’t materialized yet, but he was just getting started and was by no means ready to give up. Gaylord announced that he was heading out on an overnight trip to the University of Maine in Orono. He would return by dinner the following evening, but if he was held up for some reason, he would be sure to call Georgia so she wouldn’t worry. Georgia was much younger than most of our guests, but the way she fussed over everyone made it feel as if she was some sort of den mother.
After everyone went their separate ways, Georgia headed to the kitchen to see to the daily baking, and I went back to the cottage to call Colt. I wondered if he knew that the bank’s board of trustees had actually advertised to fill Wesley’s job long before he went missing. I had to wonder if Wesley had known what the board was up to. I supposed that if the trustees had simply been putting out feelers for a new bank president, they might have hidden their activities from the man who currently ran the bank. No reason to make him mad while he still held a position of power. If he felt his birthright was being threatened by the men and women his father had recruited to help oversee the bank, might he have been the one to take retaliatory action of some type?
Chapter 6
Although lunch with Sarah Walker had been my idea, by the time the event actually rolled around, I found I was regretting that invitation. Not that Sarah wasn’t a perfectly lovely person who I would otherwise enjoy getting to know, but after having had a chance to sleep on things, I’d realized that the last thing I wanted to do was to get caught up in whatever might be going on in San Francisco. I considered canceling, but that would mean not only disappointing Sarah but would probably be something I would regret doing in the long run.
“Thank you so much for meeting me,” I said to the cheerful woman after I’d parked along the street, plastered a smile on my face, and walked into the diner with a gait I hoped indicated confidence.
“Oh no, thank you,” she beamed, as the waitress, who was new and introduced herself as Kim, brought us each a glass of water and a menu. “I’ve loved your writing for so long, I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to have the chance to get to know you.”
I waved at Velma, who was busy in the kitchen, then indicated to the waitress that we’d need a few minutes with the menu before ordering. “I’m happy for the chance to know you as well. I didn’t expect to run into anyone from my old life in San Francisco at the signing.”
“It really was kismet that you just happened to be having a signing during the same few days I was in town.”
“Yes, it was very fortunate.” It was at this point I considered steering the conversation toward my writing and the new manuscript I was working on and leaving it there for the duration of our meal. Perhaps leaving the topic of Ben’s investigation into Steven’s death buried along with both men really was the best alternative. Even if there was more to Steven’s death than had been revealed in the press, discovering why Ben had chosen to take a second look at the case wasn’t going to bring either man back. Besides, it wasn’t as if I had the skill or the access to information I’d need to prove what had really happened to Steven anyway.
Of course, when Sarah jumped in only seconds after Kim came back to take our order, I was left with little choice but to go with the topic she’d chosen. “When your husband came to my home to talk about Steven, I felt as if the fates had finally smiled down on me. He was such a kind, compassionate person. Not only did he seem to really care about getting to the truth of what had happened the day Steven died, but he was also concerned about how Steven’s death had affected me and the other people in his life. Losing Steven was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to endure, and then when the same men and women who’d called him brother closed his murder case before they even had a chance to scrape t
he surface, I felt a darkness that I’m surprised I was able to work myself out of. I just couldn’t understand how the SFPD could lose one of their own and then give up on finding his killer as easily as they did.”
“That does seem odd,” I admitted. “Steven was partnered with Frank Ribaldie at the time of his death?”
“By the time of Steven’s death, Frank had moved on to narcotics, but he and Steven had been partners up to that point. Steven’s new partner was a man named Kurt Kloss. They’d only been working together for a few months.”
“I remember reading that Steven’s body was found in an alley on the other side of the city from the beat he was assigned to. Do you happen to know if that discrepancy was ever resolved?”
Sarah shook her head. “No. That was one of the things Ben was looking in to. He told me that there was a kidnapping on the day Steven died. All available units had been dispatched to the area where the kidnapping occurred. According to the statement Kurt made at the time, they had split up to cover more ground. The way it looked was that while Kurt was going door-to-door, looking for anyone who had seen anything regarding the kidnapped child, Steven, who was the one driving that day, took the car and headed across town where he ended up dead in the alley. I can’t imagine why Steven would leave his partner behind without even telling him where he was going. I’ve gone over the situation again and again in my head, and it simply makes no sense.”