Angel Sleuth

by Lesley A. Diehl

  She bolted away before Kaitlin could stop her and jumped into the car. It sped down the lane and took an abrupt right onto the highway out of town.

  * * *

  “My men are following the Camaro. It’s heading east out of town.” Jim turned his head toward Kaitlin, but she gave no reply. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m terribly worried about Bethany. She’s in this over her head, and she’s going to get hurt,” she said. She couldn’t get the idea of Hiram and Bethany out of her mind.

  He pulled the police cruiser into the restaurant parking lot and walked around to open her door. Kaitlin continued to sit in the car while Jim stood at the open car door.

  “Kaitlin?”

  “I’m really not hungry. I want to go home.”

  “Whatever madam wants,” he said.

  She looked at his face lit by the parking lot lights to see if he was being sarcastic and decided he wasn’t.

  They rode back to her house in silence.

  “You’d better come in,” Kaitlin said when they pulled into the drive.

  “That’s not necessary. We can talk tomorrow if you like.”

  She reached into her backpack and pulled out the music box. “We should talk about what Bethany told me. She also gave me this.”

  He fiddled with the key, turning it back and forth. “It doesn’t work.”

  She pulled him through the front door and into the kitchen. “I thought for sure you could fix it.”

  She scrounged around in her kitchen “everything” drawer and extracted a screwdriver. Jim sat down at the counter and removed the screws from the bottom of the wooden box.

  “No wonder it doesn’t work. The mechanism is gone, replaced by all these sheets of paper.” He handed them to her.

  She unfolded the sheets of paper.

  “They’re blank.” The disappointment was obvious in her voice. She took a counter stool beside Jim and told him in detail about Bethany’s and her conversation.

  “There’s something I want to ask you about ARC. Bethany said you knew something of what was going on there. My bet is that you know a lot of what is going on at ARC, but you haven’t told me anything. I’d like to know what I’ve stepped into being an ombudsman. But more importantly, I have friends there, and I’d like to know if they’re in any danger.”

  For a moment she thought he was going to evade her question. He moved around on the stool, then got up and began pacing around her kitchen. He returned to the stool, cleared his throat and spoke. She found his words carefully chosen.

  “It’s an ongoing investigation that is taking a turn none of us suspected. If we had enough information, we’d make a move. Right now, that’s all I can say.”

  “With that vague explanation, I’m still expected to go on with my volunteer work?”

  “You could quit, if you want, you know. The authorities are keeping a close eye on the facility, so I doubt you’re in much danger now.”

  “Let’s see.” She poked a finger into her cheek as if trying to figure out a difficult puzzle, and her voice took on an edge. “Being bopped on the head, having my office broken into, letters stolen then planted on me and almost getting run over by a car are not dangerous? And what about Leda and Barbara? They’re dead! And that’s not dangerous for anyone?”

  She was certain her neighbors could hear her shouting through the open windows, but she didn’t care. She liked this man, at least, she thought she did. Now she wasn’t so sure. It seemed to her his job was getting in the way of his humanity and compassion.

  “Barbara and Leda may well have been involved in criminal activities associated with ARC.”

  “So their being dead is okay because they were criminals anyway? I don’t think so.”

  “Look, this case is big, so big the Feds…” She didn’t let him finish.

  “Oh, I get it. If the case were just local or regional, you’d be worried about the safety of those people, but since it’s federal, well then, the safety of the ARC residents and the deaths of a few criminals don’t worry you.”

  She could tell by the clenching and unclenching of his jaw and the way he was slapping the screwdriver in the palm of his hand that he was getting upset. Clearly he didn’t expect the conversation to go in this direction or for her to find his stance so offensive.

  “You make me sound like I don’t care. I’m doing my job here the best way I can.”

  “Ah, well, good then. I guess almost dinner tonight was you doing your job. In that case, thank you so much for the lovely evening. I’m sorry my concern for my friends’ safety got in the way of my appetite.”

  She shoved at his back, and he caught his balance by standing up. They both looked surprised she was able to exert enough force to move him off the stool. Once he was on his feet, she used the momentum to propel him through the kitchen and living room and toward the front door.

  “About this evening…” He turned in the open doorway toward her and held out a hand in a gesture of helplessness or frustration. If it were meant to placate her, it wasn’t working. She grabbed her backpack off the couch, scrounged around for her wallet, and extracted several bills. These she slapped in his open palm.

  “Gas money.” She opened the front door, pushed him out onto the porch, and slammed the door in his face. Then she snapped off the front porch light. Let him stew out there in the dark, she thought. If he stumbled down the stairs and sued her, she didn’t care…much.

  He must have stood on the porch for a long time in the dark, because it was several minutes before Kaitlin heard his footfall on the steps. Finally, his car engine came to life, and she heard him drive off.

  * * *

  A big case, he’d said. Now what could that be? She was lying in bed trying to sleep, but her mind was too active. She picked up the phone and dialed Mac’s cell.

  “Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?” he asked. She thought she heard sounds in the background. Like someone was with him.

  “I’m all alone here with a lot of questions buzzing around in my brain. I thought I should share, and since Mary Jane isn’t here, not that I’d tell her anything now anyway, I thought of you.” There was silence on the line for a moment as if he’d covered the receiver.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Is someone there with you, Mac? If Mary Jane knew, she’d be livid.”

  He ignored the question. “It’s one in the morning. What’s up that can’t wait until a decent hour?”

  “Jim said it was some big case associated with ARC, so I was thinking. It couldn’t be tobacco and firearms. ARC isn’t much of a place for smoking or guns that I know of.”

  “I…”

  “Organized crime? Maybe.”

  “I…”

  “Not prostitution, surely not prostitution?”

  “Oh, surely not…”

  Images of geriatric ladies in frothy negligees danced in Kaitlin’s head. Unlikely. Drugs? She thought of Lily and her 81 milligram aspirin, and she knew she was on the right track. So she hung up on Mac, delighted with the conclusions the two of them had arrived at in their midnight talk. What a great team they could be.

  She smiled into the darkness of her bedroom. Gotcha, Jim Wallace, and in more ways than you know. She had held back when she told him about Bethany’s and her conversation. She hadn’t revealed Bethany’s relationship with Hiram. Maybe she didn’t believe it herself then, but once she saw the blank papers in the music box, she knew.

  Frederica Hatfield’s secret was in that music box. Whatever it was, she placed it there hoping to slip it to Leda. She would never have stuffed blank papers in there. No, the music box contained something important, something that someone removed. Bethany held back on her, too. She had to have told Hiram about the music box, and he replaced the papers with blank sheets without letting Bethany know he did it. If she knew he tampered with the contents, she wouldn’t have bothered giving it to me. Kaitlin had to find Hiram, and she had a plan.

  * * *

&
nbsp; Early the next morning Kaitlin wanted to expedite her strategy to meet Hiram as soon as possible. She was going over the intricacies of it and about to make the critical phone call when Mary Jane called up the stairs.

  “Your mother’s here.”

  Kaitlin slipped on a robe and dashed down the stairs. Mary Jane answered the door. Kaitlin watched the two women embrace warmly. When did these two establish such a friendly relationship, she wondered?

  “It’s ten in the morning and you’re not up yet?” asked Arlene. Her arm was still around Mary Jane’s shoulder.

  Kaitlin noted that her mother, as usual, was dressed as if she were attending a gallery opening rather than visiting her daughter. She wore a champagne-colored silk suit, matching shoes and bag. An abstract patterned coral and teal scarf draped around her neck. The diamonds on her hands glittered in the morning light as she played with the tie in the scarf. That’s got to be expensive, Kaitlin thought and again thanked the gods for Harold, her mother’s husband and his wide open bank account.

  “I’ll make some coffee,” said Mary Jane. “You have a seat on the couch. Make yourself comfy. You and Kaitlin can chat.”

  Kaitlin groaned. She knew talking with her mother meant she’d be grilled about her writing and her love life. Right now she had neither. Well, not strictly true what with Jim Wallace’s face popping into her head every five minutes or so.

  Coward that she was, Kaitlin sped after Mary Jane. “I’ll help. We can all chat after the coffee’s ready.”

  “Go talk to your mother, honey,” said Mary Jane. “I can handle this.” Kaitlin was about to explain how she wanted to avoid Arlene’s questions about romance or the lack of it in her life, when Arlene pushed open the kitchen door and joined them.

  “I thought you never did kitchens,” said Kaitlin.

  “There’s some hairy animal on the couch. It growled at me and wouldn’t move when I shooed it.”

  “That’s Hester. How did you shoo her?”

  “I took my foot and… Oh, God. Look. It put a scratch on my Jimmy Choos. Do you know how much I paid for these?”

  “Harold will buy you a new pair. Besides, you can’t even see the mark.”

  “I’ll bring the coffee in when it’s ready,” said Mary Jane. Arlene looked around the kitchen at the array of cages filled with Jeremy’s hamsters and gerbils positioned along the far wall. Her eyes widened and she retreated into the living room.

  “She’s not real crazy about pets. She thinks they’re nothing but designer rats. Unless they have a pedigree.”

  Mary Jane laughed. “No pedigrees here.”

  Kaitlin smiled for a moment, then let her lips go slack. “We need to talk. I think you’ve been playing my mother and me.”

  Chapter 22

  “Girls, what’s taking so long in there?” called Arlene from the other room.

  “Of course we’ll talk, honey,” said Mary Jane. “And real soon, too. But now we need to make your mother feel at home, don’t we?”

  The woman drove her nuts. Kaitlin had come on to her like gang busters with the “we need to talk” approach and all Mary Jane could think about was entertaining her mother. Kaitlin didn’t catch so much as a whisker of worry from Mary Jane. Impossible!

  Kaitlin and Mary Jane carried coffee and mugs out to the living room. Mary Jane poured two cups and started out of the room.

  “Aren’t you joining us, dear?” asked Arlene.

  “I’ve got an appointment.”

  “Not with any old friends, I hope,” said Kaitlin. “It’s better you stay here in town. Don’t wander too far afield, you know.” Old buddies might be looking for you and put us all in danger, she wanted to say, but didn’t.

  Mary Jane gave her an odd look, waved goodbye and left.

  “The coffee’s good,” said Arlene. Oh, oh, she’s being nice. That meant she wanted something.

  “What’s up, Mom?” Might as well get right to it.

  “Mary Jane said you were sleeping late because you had a date last night. A date! That’s wonderful. You’re moving on, getting beyond Zack. So who is this mysterious man? Anyone I know?”

  “It wasn’t a date. It was an interrogation. By a state police investigator. About a murder.”

  “Oh, dear. Well, I’m sure you didn’t have anything to do with a murder. I taught you better than that.”

  “Right, Mom.” Kaitlin sighed with relief. No pressing questions about the so-called date.

  “Harold and I have the use of a lovely manse on the Hudson, not far from here, and we’re having a little get-together this Friday. You must come. It’s so beautiful there. We’re having just a few people, and they will want to meet you. Bring someone.”

  “I’ll see if my friend Brittany at the newspaper has the night free.”

  “No, no. Ask her, if you like, but I meant bring a date. A man. Maybe that investigator.”

  “You didn’t hear a word I said about him, did you? He’s only interested in me because I’m part of his case.”

  “Once he gets to know you, he’ll feel differently, I’m sure. If you’d just wear a dress and a little makeup, you’d be great. Ask Mary Jane. She must have some interesting clothes you could borrow.”

  “About Mary Jane, Mom. There’s a lot you don’t know about her, and I think…”

  “You’re not still going on about her past, are you? Isn’t that her business? If she wants to tell us, she will.”

  No, she won’t, but maybe I can make her talk once I let her know what Jim found out about her.

  Kaitlin took a final gulp of her coffee and gave up. “Okay, I’ll be there, but I can’t promise a date.” She felt guilty about not spending more time with her mother. A little guilty, not a lot guilty. Not guilty enough to go along with her next suggestion.

  “No date. Well, I’ll introduce you to some nice men at our party, then.”

  She thought about this offer and decided she’d get a date even if she had to rent one or kidnap someone off the streets of Aldensville.

  “I must be off now. Many things to do for the party. I told Mary Jane about it before you came down. Could you help her find a sitter for Jeremy? You must know a teenager here in town who would like the money.”

  Oh, right. The only teen she knew was Bethany, and she was all tied up trying to elope with Kaitlin’s ex-boyfriend. That certainly wasn’t the kind of babysitter her mother had in mind, was it?

  * * *

  She paced the empty living room after Mom’s limo pulled away from the curb and worked her way into a tension headache trying to think of an acceptable man to invite to the party. If Jim Wallace wasn’t so lacking in human qualities, she might drag him to the thing. Maybe she should anyway. What other eligible man did she know? Who else indeed?

  More pressing than her social calendar was the day and evening ahead. She had some planning to do. What was the name of Bethany’s friend driving the car? Emily? Anna? Emma? Right, Emma. She was about to reach for the receiver of the phone in the kitchen, when it rang.

  “Hi. Kaitlin? It’s Jim Wal…” She hung up, and before the phone could ring again, dialed Bethany’s house.

  “Mrs. Nappi? This is the County Office for Aging.” She made up a story about Emma being in the office when it was a madhouse and wanting an application form for an ARC internship. “The office assistant got her first name, but not her last. She mentioned Bethany as the person referring her. So we were wondering if you knew her. We want to send her one of our application forms. I know your daughter is out of town, so I thought maybe you could help us.” Mrs. Nappi gave her Emma’s last name readily and also supplied an address and phone number.

  She knew Jim’s men tailed the car and were probably keeping an eye on the place because they were hoping Bethany could lead them to the bigger fish by serving as bait. Kaitlin intended to extract Bethany from Emma’s and get her to lead Kaitlin to Hiram so she could get back the contents of that music box.

  The phone rang constantly throughout the
remainder of the morning. Jim stopped calling after she hung up on him three more times.

  The next time the phone rang it was Delbert who insisted she turn over her notes on the car in the river. She wasn’t eager to part with them, not because she wanted to hog the story for herself, but when she flipped open the notebook on the counter, it detailed the event as, “Car found in river by local police. It was red.” Well, really. She never said she was a reporter.

  Her day was going to be very busy. She made a mental note so that she wouldn’t forget to call Paul at ARC. She wanted him to be her date for Friday night.

  * * *

  Later in the morning she presented herself to Delbert at the office and assured him that her notes on the car in the river were complete. As for information about Leda? Well, that took more of a lie to get Delbert off her back.

  “Yep, I’m working on that. In fact, I’m working closely with the state police. An investigator from the state bureau and I are like this.” She showed Delbert her crossed fingers to indicate how tight she and Jim were.

  “I thought we’d have something for this week’s paper. I counted on it. Left space for it to be our lead story. Now what can I do?”

  “The authorities are moving slowly and cautiously on this one. There’s a lot at stake here. It’ll take more than a space on the front page to cover this story. Oh, by the way, my column is in the computer.”

  Delbert turned his back and mumbled something about the unreliability of part-time help. Kaitlin took the opportunity to back out of his office, waved at Brittany on her way past her desk and hit the sidewalk to the café.

  Mac’s imposing frame blocked the door to the café.

  “What was that all about last night on the phone? I think you owe me an explanation.”

  “Oh, great. It’s you. Just the person I wanted to see. I need to run something by you.” Now she was lying to her friends as well as authorities and employers. Actually, she could use Mac’s help in the plan she was developing.

  Mac and she took their coffees down to the river and sat on the bench there. She didn’t want to chance anyone overhearing her in the café.