Mystery, Snow, and Mistletoe

by Wendy Meadows

  “We’re staying right here until we can have another visit with him,” Phyllis said. “I want to make sure he doesn’t disappear again.”

  “I told him he was your wedding wish,” Brenda said. “He’ll be waiting to hear details from you.” She hugged Phyllis and walked down the hall with Mac and the chief. They invited her to go back to the police station with them.

  “I want you in the interrogation rooms this time, Brenda,” Mac said. “I think we’ll start with Pete, and let Edward stew a little while.”

  Chapter Eight

  Interrogations

  Brenda was more than ready to hear what Pete Graham had to say. She was told neither man knew that Patrick Lindsey had been rescued. This will prove interesting, she thought.

  Pete sat across from Mac and Brenda. He couldn’t meet their eyes. “I understand new evidence has come in on Patrick Lindsey,” Mac said. “I’m thinking you are the one who killed him.”

  Pete’s head jerked up. “He can’t be dead.”

  “How do you know?”

  It dawned on Pete he had been tricked. He drew several deep breaths but didn’t speak. Brenda and Mac waited patiently.

  “I have all night,” Mac said. He looked at Brenda. “How about you, Brenda, do you have any place you should be right now?”

  “I’m good,” Brenda said. “We don’t have a full house at the bed and breakfast since things are winding down for the big holiday.” They continued the small talk between them about their unlimited time while Pete fidgeted.

  Pete finally banged his fist on the table. “I know where Patrick has been these past five years,” he said. “I can take you there and you will see that he is just fine.”

  “Do you describe someone as ‘just fine’ when they’ve been drugged with your father’s sleeping pills? At least, with a prescription with his name on it,” Brenda said. “Why would Edward Graham need sleeping pills? Did you drug Patrick Lindsey?”

  Pete struggled, his face contorted with confusion, regret, and helplessness. “I…I didn’t have a choice. He told me to get it done.”

  “To get what done?” Mac asked.

  “Lady Pendleton wanted Patrick dead. He told me I had to do it.” Once he had said the words, all the energy seemed to go out of Pete’s body. His cheerful persona was gone and in its place Brenda saw only a sad man facing the consequences of his own cowardice. “But I couldn’t kill him. So I told my dad Patrick died of an overdose and said I got rid of the body. He believed me. He was happy, since that’s what Lady Pendleton wanted to happen. I knew about that storage space that was never used. I found a key for the hidden door in with the folder of illegal tax manipulation information of hers and took it, thinking I could use it for something. Later I discovered the door around back. I think she ordered it built but never knew where it was, and forgot about it.” He stopped, his shoulders slumped. He finally looked up at Mac with defeat in his eyes. “I couldn’t kill anyone.”

  Mac and Brenda remained silent. Pete continued to tell them that he paid a visit to Patrick in the middle of everything. He had the sleeping pills with him and drugged Patrick’s beer. He then dragged him downstairs and around to the hidden door. He had already made sure there was a cot in there and saw that he had food and water to drink. Every time he went to Patrick’s room, he found it easy to drop sleeping pills into his drinks. He usually went late at night when no one was around, or awake on that floor. Right after moving him to the hidden room, Pete had moved all of Patrick’s furniture and personal items out in the middle of the night, to make it look as if he had left suddenly. He had dumped it all at a landfill several counties away.

  As time went on, Pete had told his father to keep refilling the sleeping pills because he needed them to block out the bad dreams about what he had done at Lady Pendleton’s behest. His father had not known the pills were for Patrick all along.

  “Why did you visit him this afternoon?” Brenda locked eyes with him. “I saw footprints in the snow so I know you were there today.”

  Pete leaned back quickly. “Did you find him? How did you get in?”

  “Never mind,” Mac said. “We’re the ones here to ask the questions. Why were you there today?”

  “I had been lying to my father for so long. He has believed Patrick was dead all these years. He never asked me where I put the body or how I managed it. I intercepted mail coming and going from Patrick for so long, too. The longer he was hidden it was only incoming mail that had to be intercepted.”

  “When did you begin tampering with his mail?” Brenda asked.

  “Lady Pendleton told my father she wanted me to start doing that from the day Patrick started working in my father’s office. That was when he started the lawsuit against her. I did that with others’ mail, too, so no one would suspect anything.”

  Brenda realized something. “Does that mean you destroyed important mail? Like maybe letters between my father and his own brother?” Pete nodded. “Do you realize the rift you caused between them? They had been close as brothers and your interference helped destroy that.”

  Pete admitted that was true but offered no apology. “I did what I was forced to do.”

  “What did you get in return for your deeds?” Mac asked.

  “Lady Pendleton gave me Patrick’s apartment rent-free. I was offered protection by Lady Pendleton and she paid me for doing what she asked.”

  “Well, that protection promise won’t have any bearing now, will it?” Mac asked. “And I doubt you’ll have a job at the Post Office. Mail tampering is a Federal offense.”

  The interrogation room door opened and an officer handed Mac a note. He read it and passed it to Brenda. She wasn’t surprised to read that Edward Graham’s fingerprints were a match for the ones found on the empty shelf where Patrick Lindsey’s file had been in storage.

  Mac signaled for an officer to handcuff Pete Graham again and return him to his cell.

  “I have another question before he goes,” Brenda said. When Mac nodded, she asked Pete if he knew why Randolph threw her father out of the bed and breakfast, since he had been there that day, by all accounts. Pete told her he had lied about Tim and told Randolph his brother was sending letters back and forth to various people in Sweetfern Harbor, intending to harm his reputation and damage his bed and breakfast business.

  “And how was that supposed to happen?” Brenda asked.

  “I told Randolph that Tim wanted the Sheffield Bed and Breakfast and was trying to get it through a lawsuit. Of course, none of it was true, but I felt I could use him in some way in the future. Phyllis Lindsey worked for Randolph and so Randolph was naturally very interested in Patrick. I needed leverage between Tim and Randolph. That part wasn’t my father’s idea, or Lady Pendleton’s. That was my own idea.” He looked sickened by his own words.

  Once outside the interrogation room, Brenda and Mac took a short break. “Let’s go see Edward now,” Mac said. The lawyer had time to stew, as Mac put it, but he also had time to formulate his own statement.

  Mac read him his rights again. He declined a lawyer to represent him. Brenda guessed that later he would regret that decision. He seemed calm and confident.

  “It looks like you are charged with kidnapping. I am adding murder and destruction of evidence to those charges,” Mac said.

  Edward stood suddenly, staggering back. The other officer in the room steadied his shoulders and pushed him back down into his chair. Moisture appeared on the lawyer’s forehead. He rubbed both hands on his slacks.

  “I don’t know about any murder or these other charges you are throwing at me.”

  “Someone murdered Patrick Lindsey. He worked in your office just before he disappeared. You knew Lady Pendleton was illegally tampering with everyone’s tax documents. I’m thinking Patrick knew what was going on and threatened to do something about it. Lady Pendleton had you under her thumb. If you didn’t do everything she told you to do, your job was in jeopardy. She was unhappy about losing that lawsuit t
o Patrick and you were ordered to take care of him before he did any more damage to her.”

  Mac’s eyes drilled into the man across from him.

  Edward Graham’s eyes flashed defiantly. “I know he is dead, but I didn’t kill Patrick Lindsey. As for destroying evidence I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  Mac explained that Edward’s fingerprints were found in the place where Patrick Lindsey’s file once was. “The file has vanished. Evidence points to the fact that you took or destroyed them. If you didn’t, then we will subpoena them from you. That should take less than twenty-four hours to take care of the matter. It can be sooner, if you just tell us where they are. We already know you took them. Where are they?”

  “I’ll answer that only if you give me immunity. I can tell you who killed Patrick.” He held up his chin in a posture of righteousness, as if he believed he held the final trump card.

  Mac leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. He turned to Brenda. “Have you ever known of a father who would sell out his own son?”

  “In all the cases I’ve worked on back in Michigan and the ones here, I have to say I’ve never known a good father to do that.”

  Mac sat up straight again. “There is no immunity deal,” he told Edward. “You didn’t have to sell out your son. We know Pete told you he killed Patrick, but Patrick Lindsey is alive and well. He was rescued by Brenda and is recuperating in the hospital.”

  Edward’s face dropped in the manner of a rock hitting the bottom of a river. His face was pale and he had no more words for them. Mac told the other officer to take the lawyer back to his cell. “I’ll be filing more charges by tomorrow,” he told Edward.

  Mac and Brenda remained for a few minutes where they were.

  “Brenda, I love you dearly, but for the life of me I don’t know how you get to the bottom of things like you do. I’m sure Bob Ingram will ask you once again to join the police force.”

  Brenda smiled. “I guess I just have a knack for figuring things out. But, as I’ve so often said, I’m happy running a bed and breakfast. More than anything, I’m happily looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.”

  Mac pulled her to him and kissed her. They heard a tapping on the window and the Chief came around to the door. He laughed at their realization that the window was a one-way mirror.

  “You two need to go out and have some fun, this is no place for a date!” He joked. “Besides, you’ve spent enough time on this case today.”

  Both looked chagrined and brushed past the Chief, who laughed at them again.

  Once outside, Brenda took a deep breath. She leaned closer to Mac and gazed at the pristine wintery landscape. “I love how the snow looks when it falls so heavily. We should have quite a wonderland by morning.”

  “Let’s go eat some Italian food and have a good glass of wine,” Mac said. “I know how much you like to walk in the snow. I’ll leave the car here since the restaurant is only a block away.”

  They nestled closer as they walked along. Brenda lifted her head and caught snowflakes on her tongue.

  The aroma of pasta and simmering rich tomato sauce met their senses. They settled at a table near the window. “Tonight we don’t talk business,” Mac said.

  Brenda readily agreed, gazing into his eyes. As they raised a glass of wine in a toast to the beautiful snow outside, Brenda sighed happily. She knew the dinner would prove to be the relaxation both of them needed.

  The next morning, Brenda went to the hospital to talk to Patrick. He had been moved from Intensive Care to a private room in another unit. An officer who knew Brenda stepped back to allow her to enter.

  “You look like a new man, Patrick,” she said, pleased to see him sitting up taller and looking more alert.

  “I am a new man, thanks to you. I’m fully alert and ready to hear how in the world you found me. It was the luckiest day of my life.”

  Brenda told him of finding the envelope that belonged to Lady Pendleton and the key inside. “I tried every door on that floor and was frustrated that it didn’t fit any of them. When I got back outside something drew me to the back of the building. I saw footprints in the snow that seemed to lead to the solid brick wall. I was curious and discovered the key hole. Of course, the key fit and so that’s how I found you.”

  “I was in a stupor, I thought you were an angel at first. Those must have been Pete’s footprints. He was the only person I saw for five years.”

  Brenda wondered how he had survived over the years, but saved those questions for later. There would be plenty of time to get to know Patrick Lindsey better. They both looked up when Phyllis and Molly came into the room. Brenda had never seen the light shining from Phyllis’ face as it did that day.

  “Brenda, thanks to you I have my wedding wish.” Phyllis gave Brenda a quick hug and then her brother a longer one. Molly stood back and smiled at the scene, but Brenda noted sadness in her eyes.

  Molly felt Brenda’s eyes on her. “I still can’t believe Pete would do such a thing. He lied to me all these years. He hid Uncle Patrick away in that filthy little hole in the wall, away from everyone who loved him. I don’t even know who Pete Graham is.” She shook her head.

  Phyllis turned to her daughter. “Right now, Pete Graham is a prisoner and is where he belongs. Someday you will fall in love with a man who truly deserves you. You will find love again.”

  Patrick told her to come to him. He gave his niece a hug. “I was duped by him, too, Molly. We will both recover. We have to. There will be two big weddings to celebrate in a very short time. We’d both better be in our best form or we may get thrown out,” he joked.

  “Never,” Phyllis and Brenda said simultaneously. Everyone laughed and Brenda was happy to see how Patrick’s pep talk put the light back into Molly’s eyes.

  “I’m a little bit worried that maybe William knew what was going on.” Phyllis looked at her brother with troubled eyes. “Did he know what his wife was up to?”

  “Lady Pendleton didn’t love anyone and that included William. He had no idea what was going on. From everything I’ve heard, he is a fine upstanding man, well respected and well known now that he is out from under her control. You will have a happy life with a very good man, Phyllis. I can’t tell you how happy I am for you.”

  Chapter Nine

  Closure

  When Brenda left the hospital, she walked to Blossoms. She wanted to talk with Jenny about the strange switch of partners that had occurred between her, Molly, Bryce and Pete. Something still nagged at her that the whole situation was somehow as false as Pete Graham’s life had been.

  Jenny Rivers smiled at Brenda as she finished a transaction with a customer. “I’ll be right back in, Brenda. I’m going to help load these poinsettias into her car.”

  Brenda walked around the shop admiring more of the flowers, and especially the blooming Christmas cactus plants. Jenny had put her artistic touch into the shop’s festive ambiance. She heard the voices of two employees in the back room creating arrangements for customers. Jenny came back in brushing snow from her hair and shoulders.

  “A huge mound of snow landed on my head when I walked under the edge of the canopy at the front door,” she said, laughing. “I know it’s not melting out there but for some reason a hunk of it just dropped down on me as I came back in.” Her eyes twinkled like the nearby lights on the tree in the window display. “I got the order in this morning for yours and Phyllis’ wedding flowers. What else can I get you?”

  “I just need a few minutes of your time. Can we could talk privately?”

  Jenny told one of the workers to listen for the bell and take care of customers for a few minutes. Jenny and Brenda walked to the side area of the shop where two bistro tables and chairs were. In the corner hot coffee brewed. Jenny poured two cups and they sat down.

  “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you about you and Bryce breaking up. I really feel bad about it all. Was that his idea or Pete’s that the four of you mix u
p like that?”

  “It certainly wasn’t Bryce’s idea, though Pete sent that message around town. It was all Pete’s idea. You know, Brenda, Molly told me he brought it up right after she suggested she move in with him and said that they should start thinking about marriage. I guess he isn’t all that interested in marriage and he thought this would take care of his problem.” Jenny sipped her coffee. “I heard the news about Patrick Lindsey being found. I haven’t heard many details but I can only imagine how happy Phyllis and Molly are about it. Just think, he disappeared five years ago and is suddenly back in Sweetfern Harbor!”

  Brenda became aware that Molly had not spoken to Jenny and nor had her father given her information of the arrests yet. She would have to fill her in. “He was found right here in town. Someone kidnapped him and held him hostage for the entire five years.”

  Jenny opened her mouth wide to speak and then closed it. She stirred her coffee and took a drink, trying to digest this piece of news. “He disappeared just after he won that lawsuit against Lady Pendleton. Did she have anything to do with it?”

  Brenda nodded her head and then said. “Don’t spread this around, but I can tell you she was involved…but it’s much deeper than that. I think you’d better talk with your father. If he hasn’t given you details yet, he has a reason. You will be shocked at how everything unfolded.”

  Jenny immediately pulled out her mobile phone and called Mac. Brenda smiled to herself. She should have known Jenny Rivers wouldn’t wait another minute to find out what happened. She watched her future daughter-in-law as she listened to the detective. When the call ended, she sat back down without a word. She rested her elbows on the table and rested her forehead in her hands. When she looked up, she finally spoke.

  “I can’t believe such a thing, Brenda. Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought Edward and Pete had anything to do with his disappearance. How horrible to think Patrick has been in that dungeon-like place all these years. My dad didn’t tell me exactly who found him.” Her eyes questioned Brenda.