“I must say, your friend had a vivid imagination,” Mabel said after finishing her second roll.
“How is that?” Danielle asked.
“She was very concerned one of the nurses had been stealing medication from the patients and replacing the pills with placebos. Of course, I can’t imagine anyone here doing that. I told my nurse what your friend had said—what she had claimed to have seen—and she promised me she would look into it.”
“Did she?”
Mabel nodded. “Yes. She came back and told me I had nothing to worry about. It was all a misunderstanding. I told your friend that, but she insisted she was right. Told me she was going to report the nurse to the authorities.”
“Umm…did you ever tell anyone what she said, about reporting the nurse to the authorities?”
Mabel shrugged. “Well, yes. I thought they should know.”
“Mabel, which nurse was this?”
Mabel frowned. “Which nurse was what?”
“The one who my friend claimed had been tampering with the medication?”
“She refused to tell me who it was. That’s why I thought she was probably imagining it all. Sometimes people in this place imagine things, even the nice ones.”
“Which nurse did you talk to about it?” Danielle asked.
“I told you. My nurse,” Mabel explained.
“Which one is your nurse? Her name?”
Mabel blushed. “I’m sorry. I always get the names mixed up in here. I’m not very good with names.”
“Mabel, ready for your physical therapy?” a male voice called out from the doorway.
A few minutes later, Danielle found herself walking down the hallway, away from Mabel’s room, as the elderly woman went off to physical therapy. Heading toward the back door, she passed a man in a wheelchair complaining to SeAnne about his pain medication. It was the same man who had been complaining during her last visit.
“I need another pain pill,” he insisted.
“I’m sorry, but you had one thirty minutes ago,” SeAnne told him.
Walking by the arguing pair, Danielle heard her phone buzz, signifying an incoming text message. While still walking, she pulled her phone from her purse and read the message. It was from the chief.
Warren’s car was across the street. I don’t think it was Chloe. Back to square one, read the text message.
“Damnit, I am tired of this!” the man shouted. “My leg hurts like hell, and you promised you would talk to my doctor about changing the pain medication!”
Danielle stopped abruptly and glanced back at SeAnne and the man. What had Mabel said? Someone was stealing medication and replacing it with placebos? Medication like pain pills?
Without another thought, Danielle rushed down the hallway and ducked into what appeared to be the first empty room. Shutting the door behind her, she quickly dialed the chief.
“I don’t think it’s Chloe or Warren. The neighbor across the street remembers looking outside Tuesday morning and seeing Warren moving his car back across the street before the trash truck arrived,” the chief said when he answered the phone. “And according to Marie’s next-door neighbor, his daughter’s boyfriend had parked in front of Marie’s house when he brought the daughter home after midnight. So their stories corroborate what Chloe is telling me.”
“Chief, I think I know who might have had a motive to kill Marie,” Danielle whispered.
“Who?”
“One of the nurses here, but I’m not sure which one. I’ll come to the station and explain there; I can’t talk here. But I need you to do something for me while I’m on the way there.”
“What?”
“Do you still have Marie’s nightdress, the one she was wearing when she died?”
“Yes. It’s in evidence. Why?”
“I need you to check the pockets.”
“Why?” he asked. “But I’m sure the lab has already done that.”
“Marie told me she put a pain pill in the pocket of her nightdress. I need you to see if it’s still there, or if the lab found it. They need to check and see what kind of pill it is.”
“What’s going on, Danielle?”
“I’ll explain when I get to the station.”
Thirty-Five
Chief MacDonald stood at his desk, reviewing the list of items held in the evidence box regarding Marie’s case. Danielle had been right. There had been a pill in the pocket of Marie’s nightdress. According to the lab, it was a vitamin. He wasn’t sure what the vitamin had to do with Marie’s murder. Tossing the list on his desk, he picked up his phone and dialed Danielle. After several rings, her voice message picked up the call.
“Damnit, Danielle, answer your phone,” the chief grumbled. He hung up and sat back at his desk. According to Danielle, she was on the way over to his office. He would just have to wait until she arrived to find out what significance the vitamin held.
Fifteen minutes later, when Danielle did not arrive at the police station, MacDonald tried calling her again. As before, her voice message answered his call. Another fifteen minutes went by, and he tried calling her again. But like before, her voice message picked up. Annoyed, he dialed Lily.
“Hey, Chief, what’s up?” Lily answered her cellphone.
“I’m trying to get ahold of Danielle. She was supposed to be on her way over here, but that was over half an hour ago, and she hasn’t shown up, and I keep getting her machine.”
“It’s possible her phone is dead,” Lily suggested. “She’s been complaining about her battery not holding a charge. Is there a problem?”
“I hope not,” MacDonald grumbled. “By any chance, do you see her car at her house?”
“Hold on. Let me check.” The line went quiet for a moment and then Lily returned. “Sorry, Chief. I don’t see her car. It doesn’t look like anyone’s over at her house.” Lily chuckled and then added, “Well, except for Walt and maybe Marie.”
“If she shows up over there, would you have her call me?” he asked.
“If Danielle Boatman shows up, tell her to wait for me in my office and call me immediately,” the chief told Holly Parker as he left the police station after talking to Lily on the phone.
When MacDonald arrived at Seaside Village fifteen minutes later, he didn’t park his car. Instead, he drove around the complex, looking for Danielle’s red Ford Flex. He didn’t see it in any of the parking lots or along the street. He could only assume she had already left.
Instead of going back to the police station, he headed to Marlow House. When he pulled up in front of the property, he didn’t see any sign of Danielle’s red car. After parking and turning off his ignition, he tried calling Danielle again.
“You’ve reached Danielle Boatman. If I’m not answering this call, I’ve either misplaced my phone or forgot to charge it. Please leave a message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day!”
With a sigh, he dialed Lily.
“I see you over there,” Lily answered with a laugh.
MacDonald glanced across the street. He spied Lily looking out her front window, waving at him.
“You still have a key to Danielle’s house?” he asked.
“What’s going on?” The playful tone disappeared from Lily’s voice.
“I need to talk to Marie—if possible.”
“I think we can figure out something,” Lily told him. “I’ll be right over there.”
Marie sat on the attic sofa, her arms folded across her chest, as her gaze locked with Max’s. He perched on a box several feet from the sofa, his tail twitching behind him.
“It’s just rude, Max,” Marie insisted.
“Are you still arguing with him?” Walt asked when he appeared in the room.
“I’m just trying to make him understand why it’s a bad idea to use someone’s flower garden as a litter box. But he insists the soil there is easier to dig in, and he enjoys the fragrance.”
Walt shrugged as he made his way to the window to
look out. “Two valid points.”
Marie scowled at Walt’s comment and then turned to him. “What are you looking at?”
“A police car is parked in front of the house,” Walt said, still looking outside.
Leaving the sofa, Marie joined Walt at the window. “Looks like Edward. Is Danielle back yet?”
“No. I was expecting her home by now.”
“Wasn’t she meeting him for breakfast?” Marie asked.
“Yes, to discuss what she found out about Sondra. But they should have finished breakfast a couple of hours ago.”
“I feel a little guilty believing that poor girl had something to do with my death.”
As they looked down to the street, they watched as the chief got out of his vehicle. Several moments later, Lily and Ian came dashing toward the chief, Sadie trailing behind them.
“Looks like they’re coming to the front door,” Marie said a moment later.
Walt frowned. “I wonder what’s going on.”
They gathered in the parlor, Lily, Ian, MacDonald, Walt, and Marie, with Sadie sitting on Walt’s feet and Max perched on the windowsill, watching. While the three living humans in attendance couldn’t see the two spirits, they knew they were there. Walt had already confirmed that fact by scribbling a response on the piece of paper Lily had placed on the desk after entering the room.
Before asking any questions, the chief recounted the events of the day, beginning with breakfast with Danielle at Lucy’s Diner, to the last phone conversation he’d had with her.
“And she wasn’t at Seaside Village?” Lily asked.
“I drove by before coming here, but her car wasn’t there. If she doesn’t show up before I leave here, I intend to go back over there and talk to them. Someone must have seen her leave. Maybe she decided to go somewhere else before coming to the police station, and if her phone is dead, she’d have no way of calling.”
“I told her to get a new phone,” Lily grumbled.
MacDonald looked to the wall where Sadie sat, believing that was where Marie and Walt stood. “Marie, do you have any idea why Danielle would ask about a vitamin in the pocket of your dressing gown?”
Marie shrugged. “You said Danielle asked about a pill I’d put in my dressing gown that night. But it wasn’t a vitamin. It was a pain pill. That place forced pain pills on me even if I didn’t want one! They loved to keep us drugged up.”
Walt glanced over to Marie and sighed. “You do realize he can’t hear any of what you just said.”
Marie pointed to the paper on the desk. “You can write it out for me.”
Walt rolled his eyes. The next moment the pen seemingly moved of its own volition across the sheet of paper.
When the pen dropped to the desk, rolling gently back and forth before coming to a complete stop, the chief stepped closer and read the words.
It was a pain pill. Not a vitamin.
The chief frowned. He looked up at the wall. “Are you sure? According to the lab, it was a vitamin.”
“That’s what they told me it was,” Marie said. “I can’t imagine why they would give us vitamins right before we go to sleep at night.”
Again the pen moved across the paper.
That’s what they said it was. A pain pill.
If not for the night-light plugged into the far wall, it would have been pitch dark in the windowless storage room. Wearing the pale pink jogging suit she had worn to physical therapy, Mabel stood over the laundry cart with Doris and looked down at Danielle. Nestled in the pile of dirty linens, Danielle seemed to be sleeping peacefully, in spite of the fact she looked a little like a pretzel, the way her knees pushed against her chest while her arms wrapped around the back of her thighs, held together with a zip tie.
“She’s going to be awful sore when she wakes up,” Mabel said with a cringe.
“If she wakes up,” Doris corrected. “I don’t see much of a future for this poor girl. It’s all your fault!’
“How is it my fault?” Mabel asked.
“You didn’t have to blab, did you?” Doris leaned into the laundry cart, studying Danielle’s forehead. “That nasty bump is getting bigger,” Doris said with a sigh. “Surprised it didn’t kill her the way your friend clobbered her with that lamp.”
“She isn’t my friend!”
“It would have been nice had you figured that out sooner!” Doris grumbled.
“Quiet!” Mabel gasped. “Someone’s coming! Quick, hide!”
Thirty-Six
The van from the funeral home was pulling out of the driveway of Seaside Village when MacDonald arrived. He parked the police car in the front parking lot and entered through the main entrance. He wondered briefly why the funeral home had been there. Had there been another death? Considering the ages of the Seaside Village residents, he imagined it was a fairly common occurrence.
Walking up to the front nurses’ station, he spied Sunny behind the counter on the telephone. She was the only one manning the station. He stood quietly, waiting for her to end the call. When it ended, she smiled up at him.
“Hello, Chief. What can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for Danielle Boatman. She was here this morning and called me, said she was on her way to the police station. But she never showed up. I was wondering if anyone knew where she went. Maybe she changed her mind about coming to the police station and said something to someone?”
“Danielle?” Sunny frowned. Shaking her head, she said, “I’m sorry, I haven’t seen her. Do you know who she was here to see?”
“Umm…” the chief racked his brain for the name of the patient Danielle had mentioned. He decided he either couldn’t remember, or Danielle hadn’t mentioned the resident’s name. “I believe she was going to bring her cinnamon rolls.”
“Cinnamon rolls?” Sunny smiled sadly. “I guess that explains the cinnamon roll in Mabel’s room. Danielle must have brought it to her.”
The chief glanced down the hall. “Where is Mabel’s room? I’d like to talk to her.”
“I’m afraid Mabel passed away today. In fact, the funeral home just left with her body.”
“She’s dead?” The chief frowned.
“It’s not really a surprise—Mabel was well into her nineties, and she had been suffering early stages of Alzheimer’s. So I suppose it’s a bit of a blessing.”
“How did she die?” he asked.
Sunny shrugged. “I suspect a heart attack. Mabel had a bad heart.”
“When did all this happen?”
Sunny paused a moment and glanced down the hallway at what had been the door to Mabel’s room. She then looked back to the chief. “I know after breakfast she went back to her room to watch a little television before her physical therapy. She usually does that. If Danielle was here to see her—which I imagine she was, considering I found a sack with a cinnamon roll in her room—it would have had to have been before Mabel went to physical therapy. I know that after physical therapy, she went back to her room to take a nap. I stopped in to give Mabel her medication, and that’s when I found her. Looks like she went peacefully in her sleep.”
“Like Marie?”
Sunny reacted as if she had been slapped. She stared at the chief a moment before muttering, “I can assure you, Mabel died of natural causes.”
“I need to speak to the physical therapist.”
“Yes, Mabel had a visitor. A young brunette, attractive, early thirties,” the physical therapist told the chief twenty minutes later. “Same woman who was here the other day when I picked Mabel up for her therapy. Mabel told me she brought her cinnamon rolls from Old Salts.” The therapist let out a sad laugh and added, “Mabel acted a little guilty about eating two cinnamon rolls this morning, but said they were really good. I told her not to feel guilty; if she enjoys something, she should do it.”
“Did you see where she went? The visitor?”
The therapist shrugged. “Not really. After I got Mabel, they said goodbye, and I noticed the woman heading d
own the hall, toward the back entrance. But I didn’t see her leave the building. The therapy room is in the opposite direction.”
The chief thanked the physical therapist and then went down the hall, asking other residents and staff if they had seen Danielle. He couldn’t find anyone who remembered seeing her—not until a man in a wheelchair pulled out into the hallway from his room, almost running into the chief.
“Yeah, I remember seeing her,” the man told him. “I didn’t really see where she went, I was too busy giving SeAnne an earful about that damn pain medication the doctor prescribed.”
The chief arched his brow. “Pain medication?”
“They are damn useless around here, if you ask me. I wouldn’t be surprised if that stuff they give us is nothing but sugar pills!”
“Why do you say that?” the chief asked.
“Because my damn leg hasn’t stopped hurting since surgery!” he shouted. “My doctor insists it doesn’t have an infection, says it’s just natural pain from physical therapy.”
The chief glanced down at the man’s legs. “Knee replacement?”
“Yeah. I suppose I should be using my walker, but it doesn’t hurt as bad when I use this thing.”
“Yes, I saw Danielle Boatman earlier,” SeAnne told the chief when he found her in the rear nurses’ station. “She brought Mabel cinnamon rolls. I thought that was sweet. Did you hear about Mabel?”
The chief nodded. “Sunny told me she passed away after she saw Danielle.”
“Not directly after seeing Danielle,” she corrected. “I saw Mabel saying goodbye to Danielle after the physical therapist came to get her.”
“So you saw Danielle leave?”
SeAnne shrugged. “I didn’t see her leave the building. Just Mabel’s room. I saw her heading to the back door, but I didn’t see her leave the building.”
The Ghost and Little Marie Page 23