Waffles and Weekends

by Leena Clover

  “You do know Dr. Costa is gone?” Jason asked.

  The nurse shook her head.

  “I was out of town on vacation. Did he say when he will be back?”

  “We are not sure,” Jenny said smoothly. “We are here for some paperwork. He said you would give it to us.”

  Jason was staring at Jenny with his mouth agape.

  The nurse led them into the office they had been in earlier. Jenny got rid of the woman by asking for a glass of water. She pulled out the topmost boxes and began taking pictures of the papers in the files.

  “Do you know what you are doing?” Jason hissed.

  Jenny held a finger to her lips, asking him to be quiet.

  The nurse came back with the water.

  “I don’t think you are allowed to touch that,” she said mildly. “Those records contain confidential information.”

  “Sorry,” Jenny said sweetly. “I thought I would save you some time.”

  She made up a name and asked for a duplicate report. The nurse spent some time rifling through the files.

  “I don’t see your name here,” she said with a frown.

  Jenny sensed the nurse was finally beginning to get irritated.

  “Why don’t you keep looking for it?” she said. “I’ll be back later.”

  Jason berated her as soon as they got into the car.

  “You know what you were doing? Getting information under false pretenses. This will never stand up in a court of law.”

  “I’m not thinking that far ahead,” Jenny dismissed. “I just want to find out what Gianni was up to.”

  Dr. Smith’s office was closed for lunch.

  “I’ve never seen a doctor’s office close in the middle of the day,” Jenny said.

  “This is Pelican Cove,” Jason reminded her. “And everyone has to eat.”

  Jenny’s stomach growled just then.

  “It’s time for lunch,” Jason said with a smile. “How about going to Ethan’s Crab Shack?”

  Jenny smiled approvingly.

  “I’d rather not go back to the café. I know I’ll put on an apron and start working as soon as I get in there.”

  Jenny was feeling guilty about leaving Petunia on her own for so long. But her aunt had promised to help out so she could go play detective.

  Ethan Hopkins greeted them with a big smile. He was Adam’s twin but he couldn’t have been more different.

  “I’ve never been here during the day,” Jenny said as they found a table by the water.

  “What are you in the mood for?” Jason asked. “I am going for the fish and chips.”

  Jenny chose the grilled seafood salad. Their food arrived in large platters.

  “This salad is huge,” Jenny said, picking up a fry from Jason’s plate.

  Jason pushed his plate away after a few bites and lapsed into silence. Jenny let him be.

  They made their way back to Dr. Smith’s clinic. The old doctor studied all the photos carefully.

  “That man was a crook!” he exclaimed. “I want to look at the rest of his files but I am almost certain what’s going on here.”

  “What?” Jason and Jenny asked.

  “Healthcare fraud,” the doctor said grimly. “I know some of the names here. As far as I know, these people don’t have the conditions Costa treated them for.”

  “So what was he up to?” Jenny asked, fascinated.

  “There are fake visits here,” Dr. Smith explained. “And false diagnoses.”

  “Do you know what these letters mean?” Jenny asked, pointing to some gibberish under ‘diagnosis’.

  “They are diagnosis codes,” the doctor explained. “Each group of letters means something specific. Looks like Costa was getting money from the government based on fake data.”

  “So Heather was never really his patient?”

  “Heather and a few others,” the doctor nodded. “He’s charging for patient visits that never happened. Also for services or procedures I bet he has not performed.”

  “Could this have harmed his patients?” Jason asked, aghast.

  “Hard to say based on this data,” Dr. Smith shrugged. “But I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  Jenny thanked the doctor for his time.

  “What now?” Jason asked.

  “I’m going to talk to Adam,” Jenny said stiffly. “Can you drop me off at the police station?”

  Nora, the desk clerk, greeted Jenny as soon as she stepped into the station.

  “He’s not in a good mood,” she warned, jerking her head toward Adam’s office.

  “So what’s new?” Jenny said with a roll of her eyes.

  Adam’s mood was a popular topic of discussion at his place of work. His coworkers tiptoed around him when his temper flared.

  Adam sat with his leg propped up on a chair, struggling to unscrew a bottle of pills.

  “What do you want?” he snapped, tossing the bottle to Jenny.

  She grabbed it and opened it without much effort. She took out two pills and handed them to Adam. Adam downed them with a glass of water and sighed deeply.

  “Sit down,” he said in a milder tone. “What brings you here, Jenny? I hear you are painting the town red with Jason Stone.”

  “Hardly,” Jenny said with a grimace. “I didn’t know you had Ethan spying on me.”

  “He brought me lunch,” Adam said lightly. “You know I was just kidding. So how many laws have you broken today?”

  “None that I know of,” Jenny said sullenly. “Wait till you hear what I found.”

  Jenny spoke for the next few minutes. Adam’s face was inscrutable as he listened to her.

  “When are you going to learn?” he whined when she stopped to take a breath. “You are meddling in police business.”

  “You mean I am doing their business. Shouldn’t you or your men have found all this out by now?”

  Adam had no answer for that.

  “Have you even met Tiffany?” Jenny demanded. “I think she’s a potential suspect.”

  “You must be right, of course,” Adam said sarcastically.

  “You think Heather is guilty, don’t you? Why not Tiffany? She was a woman scorned. And she was right here in Pelican Cove on that night. In fact, she was at The Steakhouse.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Adam asked.

  “Yes, I am sure,” Jenny bristled. “Just talk to the staff at the restaurant.”

  “I have to follow certain procedures,” Adam droned. “I can’t just run around the place talking up anyone I meet.”

  “What about this healthcare fraud? Don’t you think that is important?”

  “That’s just an allegation,” Adam said. “We don’t know he was doing anything wrong for sure. We will have to bring in some specialists. And if there is any connection to his old clinic in Delaware, this case is out of my hands.”

  “What does that mean?” Jenny asked with alarm.

  She was worried about Heather.

  “Based on what you told me, whatever crimes Gianni committed crossed state lines. That puts the case out of my jurisdiction.”

  “I have no such restrictions,” Jenny said. “I just want to take care of Heather. I’m going to keep digging.”

  “This healthcare fraud could be dangerous, Jenny,” Adam pleaded. “Who knows how many more people are involved. You need to be careful.”

  “Jason was with me when we went to Gianni’s clinic.”

  “He should have known better,” Adam clucked. “Has he lost his mind?”

  “He’s just being a good friend,” Jenny bristled. “Unlike you.”

  “My hands are tied,” Adam said, literally holding his hands up in the air. “You know I can’t be partial to you. The whole town knows I’m your house guest.”

  Jenny tried to calm herself. Adam always got her riled up with his strait laced ideas.

  “Is that all you are?” she asked coquettishly.

  “Please be careful, Jenny,” Adam begged. “I couldn’t bear it if
something happened to you.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Jenny said, shaking her head. “Don’t you think this whole scam business is important? It might lead you to other suspects.”

  “I never thought of that!” Adam glared at her. “Why don’t you leave me alone and let me think about this?”

  “I’m leaving,” Jenny said, pushing her chair back.

  “Want to go out for dinner?” Adam asked. “You must be tired from running around all day.”

  Jenny smiled reluctantly.

  “I don’t mind. I was craving something spicy.”

  Adam made plans to take her to a Mexican restaurant ten miles up the coast.

  “Have a nice day, Sheriff!” Jenny said with a wave as she breezed out of Adam’s office.

  She had stumbled onto her next course of action while talking to Adam.

  Chapter 9

  Adam and Jenny sat on the patio, sipping wine. Star and Jimmy were watching a movie. It was one of their favorite things to do after dinner. Jenny had been too tired to go for a walk. They had chosen to relax in the garden instead. Tank sat at Jenny’s feet, dozing with one eye closed.

  Adam looked at the stone fountain in the garden and let out a sigh.

  “I have some news for you, Jenny.”

  “I know you are eager to move back to your house, Adam, but why don’t you wait a few weeks more?”

  “It’s not about that,” Adam hesitated.

  Jenny peered into his eyes, trying to guess what he was about to say.

  “The DNA results are in. There is no more doubt.”

  “So it was Lily Davis,” Jenny said softly. “Or Lily Bennet if you consider her married name.”

  Adam nodded in the soft moonlight.

  “She was here all along, right in her own backyard.”

  “Do you think she’s still around?” Jenny asked with a shiver.

  “What nonsense!” Adam dismissed. “We talked about this, Jenny.”

  “I know, I know … but all those stories about mysterious lights and the house being haunted … maybe Lily was trying to get someone’s attention.”

  “You amaze me,” Adam said with a shake of his head. “You are this smart modern woman one instant and the next instant you start talking like some illiterate person.”

  “I’m just saying …”

  “I guess you feel some kind of compulsion to get to the bottom of this,” Adam smirked.

  “Believe it or not, I do,” Jenny said. “I’m going to do everything I can to find out who killed Lily.”

  “I wish you luck. We don’t have too many resources to assign to a case that old, so you might be the only one fighting for Lily.”

  “I might need your help, Adam.”

  “Let me know what you need.”

  “You’re not going to yell at me for meddling with police business?”

  “Not this time,” Adam promised.

  Jenny thought of Lily as she baked a batch of blueberry muffins the next morning. She wasn’t looking forward to telling the Magnolias about Lily.

  Betty Sue came in, clutching a ball of white wool under her armpit. Her knitting needles poked out of a tote bag. Heather followed her, biting her nails, looking lost in thought.

  “Is she still biting her nails?” Betty Sue asked Jenny.

  Jenny followed them out to the deck with a tray loaded with coffee and snacks. Star was coming up the steps from the beach.

  “Where’s Molly?” Petunia wanted to know.

  “I’m right here,” Molly said cheerily, looking pretty in an apple green dress.

  Jenny didn’t waste any time bringing the women up to speed. Betty Sue crossed herself and muttered a prayer.

  Lily had been her best friend since childhood.

  “I never believed she abandoned her family,” Betty Sue said.

  “You say that now, Grandma!” Heather said with a sneer. “But you were quick to blame her, just like everyone else.”

  “How was I supposed to know what happened?” Betty Sue cried. “She disappeared overnight.”

  “You should have known,” Heather stressed. “You should have trusted her.”

  Jenny sensed Heather wasn’t just talking about Lily. Heather’s recent wild streak had driven a wedge between her and Betty Sue.

  Jenny called Adam from the café.

  “Did anyone file a missing person report when Lily disappeared?”

  “I’ll have Nora look into the archives,” Adam promised. “Why don’t you come here in a few hours?”

  “Let’s meet for lunch,” Jenny suggested.

  Adam pointed to a thin file on his desk when Jenny entered his office with a basket on her arm. They made quick work of the crab salad sandwich she had brought. Jenny was eager to see what the file contained. She pushed the box of cupcakes she had brought toward Adam and flipped open the file.

  “Three pages?” she exclaimed. “That’s all?”

  “There was nothing suspicious about her disappearance. I am surprised they even filed a report.”

  “Lily wasn’t a loose character,” Jenny mused. “Why did people believe she had a lover?”

  “I think the general impression was that she had lost it. She had become so unpredictable that people were ready to believe anything about her.”

  Jenny read the reports as she discussed different scenarios with Adam.

  “This is from Ann Davis,” she spoke up suddenly. “Ann says she saw Lily get into a car. What was Ann doing here, Adam?”

  Adam shrugged his shoulders as he licked frosting off his lips.

  Jenny decided to go to the Bayview Inn to talk to Betty Sue.

  “Of course! I forgot Ann was in town at that time,” Betty Sue said. “She and Ricky were both here.”

  “What were they doing here?” Jenny asked.

  “Seaview was a house of mourning, remember? When Lily lost her daughter, Ann and her son came to visit.”

  “Wasn’t there a lot of time in between? Like months?”

  “It was a different time, dear,” Betty Sue said with a faraway look in her eyes. “People came for a visit and stayed on. No one was in a hurry to rush back anywhere. And Ann and her son, they were family. Seaview was as much their home as Lily’s.”

  “Ann was the one who saw Lily get into that car,” Jenny told Betty Sue. “So either Lily really got into a car and came back, or Ann is lying.”

  “Did I tell you Lily wanted to sell the house?” Betty Sue asked.

  “What? No, you never mentioned that.”

  “Lily began to hate the place after her girl died. She wanted to get away from this place. She might have put an ad in the paper.”

  “How did Ann feel about it?”

  “You will have to ask her,” Betty Sue said.

  “That’s right,” Jenny said, her eyes growing wide. “I have Ann’s number. I can talk to her. Why didn’t I think of that!”

  Jenny hurried home later, determined to call Ann Davis. Jenny had bought her house from her. The woman was in her eighties and lived in Texas. Jenny had met her when she came to Pelican Cove a few months ago.

  Ann was surprised to hear from Jenny.

  “I miss the beach and your café,” she told Jenny. “Ricky and I are thinking of visiting again this summer.”

  “This is your home,” Jenny told her. “You are always welcome here.”

  Ann asked after all the Magnolias. Jenny finally got to the point.

  “I was looking at an old police report,” she began. “You told the police that you saw Lily get into a car with someone.”

  “That’s right,” Ann said in a strong voice. “Got into a dark sedan late at night and never came back. It was a new moon, and the garden was pitch dark. But I saw it all from my window.”

  “Did you see who was driving?” Jenny pressed. “Do you remember anything else about the car?”

  “I wish I did,” Ann sighed. “It might have helped the police find Lily. But I guess she never wanted to come
back.”

  “Didn’t the police call you?” Jenny asked.

  She told Ann about the DNA results.

  “I can’t believe it,” Ann said, suddenly sounding old. “Poor Lily.”

  “Did you hear a car again that night?” Lily asked. “Or did you hear any noise in the garden?”

  She didn’t want to spell out her theory. If someone had come back and dug a pit in the garden, surely Ann would have heard something?

  “I had a migraine,” Ann told Jenny, dashing her hopes. “I took a sleeping pill and went to bed.”

  “Did you notice anything odd in the garden in the next day or two?”

  “I sprained my ankle on the stairs the next day,” Ann told her. “I had to keep it elevated for a week.”

  Jenny told Ann to call her back if she remembered anything new. She hung up, feeling dejected.

  She tried to clear her mind as she made dinner. She went out in the garden and stood staring at the fountain, the spot where they had dug up the skeleton. Give me a clue, Lily, she urged silently. Give me something. She plucked a bunch of dill and went inside.

  Jenny poured her orange dill marinade over a pan of fish and slid it in the oven.

  “Any luck?” Star asked her as they ate dinner.

  Jenny shook her head.

  “Everything hinges on Ann’s testimony. And Ann insists she saw Lily get into that car. If she’s lying, I need a way to prove it.”

  “Didn’t we have a toll booth at the bridge in those days?” Star asked Jimmy.

  “That’s right,” Jimmy nodded. “Kids from the high school worked there most times.”

  Adam slammed his fork down in his plate and swore suddenly.

  “I worked there for a few weeks. How could I not remember?”

  “It’s okay,” Jenny teased. “Memory’s the first to go when you’re getting old.”

  “You don’t get it, Jenny,” Adam said urgently. “The purpose behind that booth was to find out how many tourists came to Pelican Cove. The kid working the booth had to note down the tags of all the cars that came and left.”

  “And your point is?”

  “We can check how many cars crossed the bridge to go out of town that night.”

  “They keep records from 1991?” Jenny asked doubtfully.

  “I’m going to find out,” Adam promised.

  Jenny greeted Captain Charlie, her favorite customer, the next morning. He was always first in line when the Boardwalk Café opened at 6 AM.