by Krista Davis
Bernie’s gaze met mine. “You said Trula lied about buying fogger. But no cans of fogger were found at the Haberman house. Right?”
We all stopped eating and focused on Bernie. “The general belief is that Cindy retrieved the cans of fogger and hid them in the library.”
“Which,” I added, “Trula could easily have done because she was spending a lot of time there researching Parker’s ancestors.”
“So why lie about buying fogger? Unless Trula was involved or trying to shield Parker, she had no reason to lie about her purchase. It almost points a finger of guilt at her,” said Bernie.
“Too bad we don’t have a way of knowing whether Trula or Parker went out that night after the underground dinner.” Mars picked up his iced tea glass.
“Wait a minute,” I reached over to pat Daisy. “Someone else was lying, too. Cindy said she was home all night, worrying about Gavin because he slipped out the window and sneaked out. But Madison saw Cindy out running that night.”
“Very intriguing,” said Nina. “Once again, why would either of them lie about it unless they had something to cover up? My money is on Cindy because of the foggers in the library.”
“I think I may pay Hollis’s assistant a visit right now. When she was leaving yesterday, she said something about Cindy not being as sweet as she seems.”
I gave my favorite dog in the world a big hug before leaving. Then I walked straight over to Dixon, Haberman, and Jenkins.
The law firm appeared to occupy an entire building. Typical red brick on the outside, it looked to be three stories tall. The only indication of the business inside was a discreet brass sign with the firm name on it. I used the door knocker, but tried the handle, too, since most businesses expected one to walk right in.
A well-dressed woman with her hair pinned up in a bun sat at a desk in the foyer. “May I help you?” she asked with a smile.
“I’m Sophie Winston. I’d like to see Lisa, please?”
A shadow darkened her face. “May I tell her what this is about?”
“I met her yesterday at Hollis’s house.”
“Oh, thank heaven. I’ll tell you, it hasn’t been easy having to tell his clients that he’s dead. I dread it every time someone walks in the door.”
A talker! I loved her already. I held out my hand to shake hers. “I’m Sophie, and you’re . . . ?”
“Bettina Gregory. I’m actually the office manager, but we have some people out on vacation and the receptionist is due to give birth any minute now. We’re all waiting to hear from her husband.” She gazed at me curiously. “Why have I heard of you?” She gasped. Whispering, she asked, “Are you looking into Hollis’s murder?”
“As a matter of fact I am. Is there anything I should know?”
She shifted uncomfortably and studied the desk as if she were thinking. She pulled a sticky sheet off a pad and wrote on it. Handing it to me, she said, “Lisa is upstairs and to the right. You can’t miss her office. It still has Hollis’s name next to the door.”
I walked up the stairs, as creaky and aged as my own at home, and read the slip of paper: 1/2 hour. Big Daddy’s Bakery.
I tucked it into my purse carefully so it wouldn’t slip out. Bettina was obviously worried about something or someone.
At the top of the staircase, I turned right and found the brass sign that said HOLLIS HABERMAN. I knocked on the open door and stepped inside.
Lisa looked up from her work. “Sophie! What a nice surprise.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Hollis.”
“Sure. Won’t you sit down? Or would you like to see his office?”
“I’d love that!”
She showed me into a sunny office with two large windows facing the street. The walls were a light caramel beige. A very large oak desk dominated the space. Awards and framed diplomas covered the wall in back of the desk. A photo of Kelsey in her wedding dress and one of Gavin in a basketball uniform sat on the desktop.
“What will happen to you now that Hollis is gone?” I asked.
“There’s a lot to tie up. I’ll be very busy for a while, making sure the firm doesn’t overlook anything that Hollis was working on. And then, well, I hope we’ll have a new attorney who might want me to stay and work with him or her.”
I tried to steer her to talking about Cindy. “Great picture of Gavin! I notice there aren’t any of Cindy.”
“There were once, but they’re long gone.”
“You made a comment about her yesterday. . . .”
Lisa examined her fingers and twisted her wedding band. She walked over to her office and closed the door to the hallway. On her return she said, “Everyone thought Cindy was the sweet one. Sometimes it aggravated me because it was Hollis who was kind and caring. Hollis put up with a lot from her. It wasn’t like she beat him or anything, but . . . she had an affair with Parker.”
All I could think of was Gavin’s AB-positive blood type. “When was that?”
“I don’t know the exact dates. It might be going on right now for all I know. But it was a big blow to Hollis. He wanted to leave her a long time ago, but it seemed like there was always some reason to stay in the marriage. He just dragged his feet on it.”
“So Hollis knew that she was sleeping with Parker?”
“Most definitely.”
“Does Trula know about this affair?”
“Either she doesn’t know or she puts on a very good act. Between the two of us, I don’t know why she would stay with him if she knew about it. I’ve always suspected that they kept it a secret from her.”
“Hollis didn’t tell her.”
“Oh no! We discussed that. He said ruining one marriage was enough.”
“But it must have impacted his relationship with Parker, too.”
“It did. Everyone always says what a lovely firm this is and how everyone gets along so well, but there are undercurrents of unhappiness.”
“Are you the only one who knew?”
She nodded. “I told you, Hollis and I were like work-spouses. I knew a lot.”
“How did he find out about Cindy and Parker?”
Lisa curled her lips inward like she didn’t want to say it.
But I knew. “Gavin. He found out when Gavin didn’t have the right blood type.”
“You know about that?”
I nodded. “I didn’t know who the father was, though. Since you knew Hollis so well, did Kelsey have him on a diet?”
“Hollis was the worst dieter ever. He was always sneaking food. He lived for meatball subs and cheesecake. Poor Kelsey was trying so hard to feed him healthy foods, but he was always noshing on something bad for him.”
She walked around the desk and opened a side drawer. She crooked a finger at me.
I peered into it. Candy bars on top of candy bars! “Did people bring him food from home, too?”
“Of course. We all loved him. Bettina makes the world’s best cheesecake, and she knew how much he loved it. She brought him a slice every time she baked it.”
I reached out for her hand and clutched it in mine. “Thank you for telling me all this about Hollis. I can feel what a loss he is to you and the other people who work here. It warms my heart to know how much he was loved.”
I left the office and walked down the stairs, holding on to the railing because I was a little misty-eyed. I hadn’t known Hollis all that well, but now I wished I had.
I didn’t encounter anyone else on my way out. I checked my watch and hurried toward King Street.
Chapter 29
Dear Natasha,
At our last family funeral, half my cousins were chewing gum like cows chewing their cud. I like to have died from embarrassment. How do I avoid that at the next funeral in our family?
Brought Up Right in Possum Grape, Arkansas
Dear Brought Up Right,
I feel your pain. At the next funeral, choose a family member to hold a spittoon and collect gum fro
m the boorish side of the family.
Natasha
I knew Big Daddy’s Bakery fairly well and spotted Bettina right away. She had taken a table partly hidden in the back.
I bought a box of pastries and indulged in a cup of hot tea in spite of the heat outside. I brought them over to her table and sat down. “Thank you for meeting with me.”
She was an attractive woman with even features in an oval face. But her lips pulled back into thin lines. She spoke in a very low voice. “I have no reason to think this has anything to do with the murders.”
Murders? Plural? I waited for her to continue.
“You know that guy Angus who died?”
I nodded.
“I came back to the office one night around nine o’clock because I’d left my cell phone there by mistake. I heard voices. You know how it is when it’s so quiet at night? Everything seems slightly amplified?” She closed her eyes in pain and huffed air out of her mouth. “It was wrong of me, I know. I don’t know why I did it. Self-preservation? Some kind of weird instinct? But I hid. I turned off the lights and pretended I wasn’t there. And then I waited to see who left the building. It was Angus. Parker left a few minutes later.”
“Have you told the police?”
“No. Wouldn’t they think that was meaningless?”
“You thought enough of it to tell me. And you made sure you didn’t talk about it in the office.”
“It doesn’t mean Parker killed him,” she said. “For all I know they could have been talking about the plumbing in Parker’s house.”
“But you don’t really think that or you wouldn’t be telling me all this.”
She hid her face in her hands briefly. “Parker is a very generous person. He’s been so good to me and trusts me completely. He’s always giving clients a break on their bills, especially women without a lot of money. Neither Hollis nor Gage ever did that.”
“A break?”
“Sure, he writes off part of what they owe. I think that’s so kind and wonderful of him. I was a single mom for a long time. I know what it’s like to count every penny and be broke before payday.”
“Do you think Angus might have been a client?”
“I can’t tell you who is or isn’t a client.” She shook her head in the negative, though, which told me all I needed to know.
I watched her carefully. While it was a possibility that Parker was doing Angus a favor, it seemed obvious to me that Bettina didn’t really believe that. If she hadn’t been suspicious, she wouldn’t have hidden and spied on her boss. “I’ve heard from someone else in the firm that the atmosphere changed after Gage died.”
“It was a huge blow to us all. Gage was the consummate Southern gentleman. He was sort of nerdy—an intellectual. Sometimes I thought it irritated Parker that Gage was more scholarly and precise than Parker. I think in a way, Parker wanted to be Gage. Hollis, on the other hand, was the jolly one. The warm guy who made jokes and smiled a lot.”
“Other than being sad about Gage’s death, did you notice any changes?”
“You mean other than Madison poking around? Poor thing. She just could not accept that Gage fell into the water and drowned.”
“What did she think happened to him?”
“I honestly don’t know. I guess she thought someone had killed him. She wanted names of clients who might have had a beef with Gage. But that’s all confidential information. We can’t just hand that out.”
“Do you know someone named Fawn Fitzhugh?”
I caught a glint of recognition in her eyes. “I’m really not allowed to say who was or wasn’t a client.”
“But she wasn’t an employee?”
“No, that I’m certain about,” she said.
“Did someone have a beef with Gage?”
“With Mr. Perfect? Hardly.”
“How about his coworkers?”
“You want me to say that I think Parker murdered Hollis.”
“Not at all! I’m after the truth. Someone killed Hollis and Angus, and you were obviously somewhat wary or you wouldn’t have hidden in the office when you went back for your phone.”
“I don’t want to be next.” She seized her purse and ran out of the bakery in such a frenzy that everyone in the shop watched her leave.
I sat back and sipped my tea. I had thought that Cindy suffered from the divorce. She was certainly bitter about it for someone who had had an affair. Gavin’s true parentage must have been the can of worms Hollis had referred to when they argued at the underground dinner. But why murder him? If Cindy wanted to be with Parker, then it was Trula they would have to get rid of. Cindy was already divorced from Hollis.
Still, it was good to know there was a connection between Parker and Angus. It probably didn’t mean anything, but maybe it did. Meeting alone in the office at night was a little bit odd. There could have been a leak, and Angus was kind enough to come fix it after hours. We certainly couldn’t ask him.
Poor Kelsey. She had married into a spiderweb. I didn’t have any answers yet, but everything kept going back to the same group of people, the ones involved with the law firm—Cindy, Parker, Trula, and I guessed I should add Madison.
I took my box of pastries and headed down the street to The Laughing Hound. I walked past the host and through the restaurant to Bernie’s office.
His desk was piled with papers. He looked up when I rapped on the open door.
“Soph! Come on in. I’m just setting up the employee schedule.”
“Sorry to interrupt your work. I came by to see if you’ve heard of a waitress named Fawn Fitzhugh.”
“Fawn! Everybody loves Fawn.” He glanced down at the paper in front of him. “I should give her a call. Wonder where she’s working these days.”
“Do you know where I can find her?”
He typed on his keyboard and looked at his computer screen. “The last place I have for her is on Fayette Street.” He jotted down the address and handed it to me. “I hope she’s not in trouble.”
“Not at all. I overheard her in a brief but tense exchange with Parker. I’m wondering what that was about.”
“Tell her to give me a call. I could use Fawn around here.”
I blew Bernie a kiss and hoofed it over to Fayette Street.
Fawn lived in a large house that had been divided into four apartments. The name Fitzhugh was on a little nameplate next to the door. I rapped on the red front door and tried the handle. It swung open.
Her apartment was on the second floor. I walked upstairs and knocked. “Fawn?”
An older woman opened the door of the other unit. “Haven’t seen her in days.”
“Thank you.” I walked back downstairs, out of the building, and crossed the street. By my calculations, the big bay window on the second floor belonged to Fawn’s apartment. I could have sworn I saw her looking out. But just like a ghost, when I blinked, she was gone.
I returned to her apartment building. I found a tiny notepad in my purse and wrote, Bernie said to tell you to call him. He has a job for you. Would like to talk with you, please. Sophie Winston. I left my address and phone number. I shoved the paper underneath her door and left.
Maybe it was time to pay Gavin a visit. I made a quick phone call to get Cindy’s new address. I had planned to share the pastries with friends, but they were the perfect thing to bring to Gavin. I walked the five blocks to their apartment.
It was in a very pricy and in-demand neighborhood. Someone had converted a white brick two-story building into apartments. In spite of the excellent location, when I walked up to the door I couldn’t help feeling as though it wasn’t as fabulous as their house had been. No wonder Gavin wanted to sit in his tree house and pretend he still lived there.
The front door opened without a buzzer, and I found their apartment in the back on the left. I rapped on the door.
Cindy opened it. “Sophie! What are you doing here?”
I held up the bakery box. “I thought I’d check on Gavin. How’
s he doing?”
“He’s miserable. I guess I can’t blame him.” She showed me into a white bedroom with green linens and teenage boy décor. He was propped up on the bed playing a game on a TV when we walked in.
“Hi, Gavin! How are you feeling?”
His forehead was wrapped in a bandage, and his leg was in a cast. Poor kid!
“Mrs. Winston! Have the police arrested Kelsey yet?” he asked.
“No, honey. They haven’t.”
“What’s taking them so long?”
I looked at Cindy, unsure how much I should tell him. I tried to keep it simple. “You know that guy Angus whose house you were in?”
“I hope you’re not going to lecture me, too.”
“How did you get in there, anyway?” I asked.
Gavin shrugged like only a teen can. “The door was unlocked.”
“Do you walk into every house with an unlocked door?”
He made a face. “No.”
“Gavin, he was inside the house. He could have had you arrested for trespassing. Even worse, he could have clobbered you, thinking you were a thief.”
He turned his head away. “You sound like my mom.”
“What did you expect to find in his house?”
“I don’t know. His name?”
“His name was Angus Bogdanoff. Does that help you?”
“No. Why did the one-who-shall-remain-nameless go there?”
“As it turns out, she was once in a mess kind of like you are in now. And he was very kind to her and helped her out. So when he was stung by all those bees, she felt like she owed him and went over there to help him when he wasn’t well.”
The expression on Gavin’s face softened. “That doesn’t mean she didn’t murder my dad.”
“You’re right about that. I brought you some goodies from Big Daddy’s to make you feel better.”
“Thanks. Hey, Mrs. Winston? I’m sorry I messed up. I should have listened to you.”
I gave him a big hug. “Gavin, sweetheart, everybody makes mistakes. But you probably should listen to your mom.”