by Nicole Ellis
Did Derek Kim know anything about what I assumed were blackmail payments? And how was Anna involved with all of this? I felt like an idiot for believing her innocent estranged daughter routine. She was in this deeper than she’d admitted. With her job as a paralegal, she probably knew exactly how to set up a shell company and hide evidence of blackmail. I felt as though I were in a fog. I’d become complacent living in a small town and seeing the best in everyone.
A squirrel ran out in front of me, and I slammed on my brakes. When I resumed a normal driving speed, the adrenaline from the abrupt stop had cleared my mind. I didn’t know whether or not Anna was involved with any of this, or even if there was blackmail. But someone had killed Mr. Westen, and I still didn’t know why. I decided that the next opportunity I had, I would ask Anna about her involvement with Ericksville Properties. For all I knew, there was a reasonable explanation for all of it.
25
After dinner at the in-laws’, I bustled the two kids and the dog into the minivan and drove home. The discovery of the ownership of Ericksville Properties hung heavily on my mind. I wanted to know the truth about the mysterious transactions revealed by the bank statements.
The chance to talk with Anna came sooner than I’d imagined. When I pulled into my driveway, I saw there was a white envelope propped up on the front door welcome mat.
I drove into the garage and watched the door close completely behind me before getting the kids out of the car. When I opened the door to the house, Goldie ran past me and he and Fluffy almost bowled us over begging for food. We waded through a teeming sea of fur. Ella was still asleep in her carrier, and I set it down by the front door. Mikey followed me.
“Honey, can you please go play with your puzzles in the living room?” I asked him.
He frowned at me. “But Mom, I want to go with you.”
“Mikey, go to the living room. Now.” My patience had worn thin. I wanted to know what was in the envelope. I wasn’t expecting any packages, and this didn’t look like it had been dropped off by FedEx or UPS. Mikey pouted but complied with my request.
I unlocked the front door, opened it a crack, and scanned the front yard for anything suspicious. The break-in had me spooked. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I stepped out onto the front porch, and gently pulled the door closed behind me.
The white envelope had slid down flat on the rubber mat. I picked it up. It appeared to be an ordinary greeting card, with the trademark Hallmark gold seal on the back. My name was printed neatly on the front.
Leaning against the closed door, I slid my forefinger along the back of the envelope to break the seal. I pulled out a greeting card imprinted with the image of a purple flower. Something fell out of the card and clattered down on the concrete porch. I picked up the plastic rectangle that had dropped out, opened the greeting card, and read the message.
“Thank you so much for your help with my father’s house. Please accept this one hundred dollar gift card as a token of my appreciation.” The scrawled signature was difficult to make out, but I deciphered it as Anna Westen’s.
I turned over the credit card–shaped piece of plastic and saw the blue wave logo for Serenity Spa, a well-respected hair salon and spa overlooking the water in downtown Ericksville. A few friends had raved about the spa over the years, and I’d secretly wanted to visit, but I couldn’t justify spending the money. It was an incredibly generous gift. Anyone who gifts someone with two small children a ticket to a child-free oasis couldn’t be that bad. I was determined to find out how Anna was involved with Ericksville Properties.
I opened the front door a crack and peeked into the house. Ella was still sleeping soundly in her carrier, and I could hear Mikey playing with his Jake and the Never Land Pirates action figures in the living room. I eased the door closed again and pulled out my cell phone to call Anna.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Anna? It’s Jill Andrews.”
“Hi Jill.”
“I wanted to call and thank you for the gift card. I’ve heard great things about the Serenity Spa. I was excited to see the card, but I almost didn’t know who it was from. Your signature is barely legible!”
Anna’s laugh echoed over the phone line. “My son tells me all the time I should have been a doctor, my handwriting is so bad. That’s why I print everything. I think it’s years of signing my name as witness to so many legal documents at work. Anyways, I’m so glad you liked it. I figured you could use some adult time, and you’ve been such a big help to me with my father’s house.”
“Do I look that frazzled?” I kept my tone light so she’d know I was teasing.
“No, definitely not. When I saw you at the CPA office this evening I remembered I wanted to get you something to thank you,” Anna said. I was surprised she mentioned the CPA office since she had so studiously tried to avoid me there.
“You seemed rather distracted there. It must be difficult tracking down all your father’s assets.”
“It’s definitely been a challenge.” Anna sighed. “My father recently transferred his accounting to Derek Kim, so even Derek isn’t completely sure of my father’s whole financial picture.”
“Did he have a lot of business holdings? For some reason, I thought he only had the few rentals in town. Then again, I didn’t know him well.” My approach was awkward, but I couldn’t think of a good way to transition the subject of conversation to Ericksville Properties. I needn’t have worried about changing the topic.
Anna was quiet for a few seconds, and then her voice became steely. “My father had several business entities I didn’t know about. And apparently I’m the president of one of them.” Her calm broke and she snuffled a little into the phone before I heard the telltale sound of a nose being blown into a Kleenex.
“Anna, what do you mean you’re the president?”
“What I mean is that bastard forged my signature to a whole slew of legal documents. I’m now the president and owner of a property group with holdings across the county.”
“He forged your signature? Isn’t that illegal?” I asked. “You had no idea this company existed?”
“Nope.” She blew her nose again. “Of course, I knew he owned some properties in town but not to this extent. I’ve been a millionaire all these years and I didn’t even know it.” She laughed ironically. “I should have been going on trips to Bermuda myself instead of faxing documents to clients on vacation there.”
“But why did he forge your signature?”
“I don’t know. Probably to avoid estate taxes or something. My father would do anything to make or save a buck.”
None of this made sense. Was Anna telling the truth? Did she not know about Ericksville Properties?
“Oh, I wanted to tell you. I just found out that the sale of the BeansTalk property never went through. Desi doesn’t need to worry about her café for a long while as I have no intention of selling the building.”
Tears sprung to my eyes. “That’s some of the best news I’ve heard all week. It will mean the world to Desi. Thanks, Anna.”
From inside the house, Ella cried. A minute later, Mikey opened the door and announced his sister was awake. It was late, and I needed to feed Ella a bottle and get both kids to bed.
“Anna, I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go. If you want, maybe we can talk about this later? That does seem odd about the company.” Ella’s screams had risen to a crescendo, and I rushed to get off the phone. “Thanks again for letting me know about the café building sale not going through and the gift. I’m looking forward to using it.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it will work out. Go, I can hear the baby crying. Thanks again for being a good neighbor… and friend.” She hung up the phone.
I thought about calling Desi with the good news, but I worried about waking her up. I’d tell her the next day. I got the kids into bed with minimal resistance from Mikey and sat down to relax on the living room couch. I picked up the envelope and withdrew the gift card, flippin
g it between my fingers. This would be a nice treat with everything that had been going on.
Somehow, though, it felt tainted. I still wasn’t sure whether to believe Anna’s innocence.
I opened the card again to read Anna’s kind message. My eyes were drawn to the bottom of the card. The boldly scrawled signature was not the same bubbly signature as the one I’d seen at Derek Kim’s office on all the paperwork for Ericksville Properties.
Anna had told me the truth about the forged signatures. But if Anna didn’t know about the monthly payments being deposited into the account from Elkins Development Group, her father must have been responsible for what I hypothesized were bribes. Who was bribing Samuel Westen and why?
26
Thursday morning, after I dropped Mikey and Anthony off at preschool, I drove to the Boathouse to get the baked goods for the BeansTalk Café.
The Boathouse was quiet, and I found Beth poring over files in her office. She heard me approach, looked up, and smiled at me.
“Good morning,” she said with more enthusiasm than I could muster at nine a.m. “I’ve got everything in the kitchen, ready to go.” She jumped up from her desk and led the way to the kitchen. I lugged Ella in her car seat through the Boathouse’s long hallway.
Boxes of scones, brownies, and oatmeal raisin cookies lined the kitchen island’s counters. My eyes widened.
“Whoa,” I said. Beth must have stayed up all night baking.
“I started at four o’clock this morning,” she said, as if reading my mind.
I stared at her. The energy levels she had at her age put mine to shame. How did she do everything she did? I remembered the heart medication I’d found. Beth wasn’t quite the robot I sometimes thought her to be.
“This should be enough for today and tomorrow at the Café.” She folded the lids closed on the boxes and stacked them together. “I can make more on Saturday morning, before the afternoon wedding prep begins.”
“Do you need help?” I felt horribly guilty. If Beth was sick, she shouldn’t be working this hard.
She waved her hand. “Nope, I’m good.”
I must have had a concerned expression on my face because she said, “What? Why do you look so worried?”
“I don’t want to overwork you.” I leaned against the counter.
“Pshaw. I’ve been working long hours since I was a teenager. I’m not slowing down anytime soon.” Beth scanned my face. “What’s going on?”
I bit my lip. Should I say something about the pills?
She put her hands on her hips. “Did one of my kids say something about me?”
“No, no.” I sighed. “I found a bottle of your pills on Desi’s desk at the Café.”
“Oh,” Beth said.
“Is it something we should be worried about? You work way too hard,” I said. I looked down at Ella in her car seat carrier. She blew bubbles at me. I felt worse thinking about how many times I’d left the kids with Beth to babysit. Even if she wanted to do everything, she needed time to rest.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Beth, they’re heart pills. I looked them up. It’s not nothing.”
“My doctor wanted me to take them because I’ve had some chest pain. It’s just anxiety, but he was worried.” She smiled at me. “Honestly, don’t worry, I’m fine.”
“With Desi and everything, I can imagine you’d be under a lot of stress.” I watched her face.
Beth’s expression fell, but she quickly recovered. “I have faith that Desi and the baby will be just fine. I’m sure the police will clear her soon, and everything will work out.”
“But what if it doesn’t?” I asked. “It seems like they’re stuck on her as a suspect.”
“She didn’t kill Samuel Westen.”
“I know, but they haven’t found a better suspect,” I said. “Beth, he was poisoned with the same medication that you take.”
“What? You think I killed him?” She laughed and then took a closer look at me. “You’re kidding, right?”
My face burned. I had considered the possibility. “No, of course I don’t think you killed him. But Desi had access to your pills. What if the police find out?”
“There’s no reason that they would,” Beth said. “The pills weren’t at the café when the police went through the building. They’re safely in my medicine cabinet now. Desi had nothing to do with Sam Westen’s death.”
“Ok, I know.” I sagged against the counter. “Beth, I’m getting really worried about her. She’s trying so hard to not let this bother her, but I can tell she’s worried. Oh, but I heard from Anna Westen that the café building won’t be sold. At least something is going our way.”
Beth hugged me. “Honey, that’s great news. But there’s nothing we can do about the police investigation. I’ve asked around about Sam Westen’s enemies but haven’t come up with anything. Ultimately, we have to let the police figure out who really killed him.”
I nodded. “I know. Thanks. Can you watch Ella while I run these out to the car?” Beth was already on the floor talking to her granddaughter and nodded in agreement.
I picked up the stack of baked goods and left Beth in the Boathouse’s kitchen. After getting the pastries safely into the back of my minivan, I returned to get Ella. Beth looked sad to have her leave, and I promised I’d bring her back soon. I may have agreed with Beth that the police were ultimately responsible for finding the real killer, but that didn’t mean I was going to stop my own investigation.
When I got home, a vase of flowers awaited me on the porch—red roses interspersed with delicate baby’s breath, my favorite. I knelt to pick up the card. Looking forward to our date tomorrow night. I love you. –Adam. My eyes teared up. Adam might not always be physically there for me, but I always knew he loved me. And after what I’d gone through in the last two weeks, the reminder of his love meant the world. I brought Ella’s carrier and the vase inside and snuggled up on the couch with the flowers for awhile, inhaling their heavenly scent and dreaming of happier times in the future.
The next afternoon, I pulled my minivan into an approved parking spot at the Busy Bees Preschool. Before launching myself into the chaos of forty preschoolers, I turned off the ignition and leaned back against the headrest, drawing the strength I knew I’d need to get through preschool pickup. I needed to get in, get the kids, and deliver them to my in-laws. I had three hours until my dinner date with Adam, so even with some primping time, I should have more than enough time to get ready. Especially if Nancy Davenport wasn’t around.
I opened my eyes and scanned the parking lot. Across the parking lot was another minivan, this one with five stick figure people and a stick dog on the back window. Nancy was here, probably lying in wait to shove the gerbils at me. In an immature moment, I stuck my tongue out at her perfect little stick family.
As I walked past the back window, I could see Nancy’s white-blonde hair over the top of the reading circle chair. With any luck, she’d be so engrossed in reading to the kids that she wouldn’t notice me signing Mikey and Anthony out of school. I coaxed the door open and signed them out with a minimum of noise.
On the wall opposite the desk, the familiar pumpkin-colored auction committee flyer stuck out in a sea of other notifications. I scanned the list of important dates, and my heart dropped into my stomach. The first meeting was tonight. Brain cells churned as I walked to the back classroom to get the kids. Ok, if I hurry, I should be able to make the meeting at six p.m. and cut out a little early to meet Adam at seven. The Italian restaurant was only a block away from the school. I’d just need to get ready for our date before I left for the auction committee meeting.
Someone tapped me on the back. I spun around without thinking.
“Jill, nice to see you.” Nancy’s smile was as sweet as saccharine and just as fake.
“Hi.” I couldn’t fake a return greeting, so I settled for a half smile. She maneuvered around so I was forced to turn toward the class gerbils, racing around their
wheel. I still couldn’t understand why sane people wanted to keep rodents as pets. Nancy gestured at the gerbils.
“I’m glad you’ve decided to help out with the classroom pets. It’s so important that all the families have a chance to be responsible for them. I know other parents have already gone above and beyond their duties, and it’s so nice to see you stepping up.” Nancy reached into the magazine holder next to the gerbil cage and withdrew a small pamphlet entitled “How to Care for a Gerbil.”
She shoved it at me, and I took it automatically, still not saying a word for fear of what I’d say.
“I’ll go get their travel carrier.” She brushed past me to enter the storage room.
“Mom.” Small hands tugged at the hem of my shirt.
“Mikey!” I leaned down to hug him. “I’m so glad to see you.” I ruffled Anthony’s hair. “And you too, of course.”
“Mom, we get to take Sugar and Spice home with us for the weekend.” Mikey looked so excited at the possibility that I tried to convince myself that having vermin in my house was no big deal. They were actually kind of cute, right? But the more I looked at their beady little eyes and twitching tails, I felt like I was going to hyperventilate.
“You know, I think we’re actually signed up to do it sometime next month.”
“But Mom, Miss Nancy said I got them this week.” Mikey pouted.
“Well, I just talked with her and she left without giving them to me, so I think there was some sort of mix-up. I’ll talk with her next week about it.” I crossed my fingers behind my back. It wasn’t too much of a lie, and it was a mix-up. I certainly had never promised to take the gerbils home with me. I pulled the two of them out the door to the car as quickly as I could without tripping them.
“How’s my mom doing? And my baby sister?” Anthony asked as I belted him into his car seat.
“She’s fine, honey. The doctors want to watch her a little longer to make sure she and the baby are ok. I’m going to take you and Mikey over to Grandma’s house tonight, and then your dad will come get you tomorrow morning, ok?” I clipped the last car seat latch and kissed him on the forehead.