Toni L.P. Kelner - Laura Fleming 08 - Wed and Buried

by Toni L. P. Kelner

  “You’re sweet to ask, but Richard and I have some things to take care of. We just came to make sure everything was all right, and to bring Bobbin home.”

  Her nose wrinkled when I said “Bobbin,” but just a tiny bit. “You’re welcome any time, and bring that little girl of yours along, too. As far as I’m concerned, the best part about Big Bill’s marriage is having babies around.” She stopped herself. “I mean—”

  “I know what you mean,” I said. “It’s been a big change for you, especially now, with Big Bill being ill.”

  She smiled gratefully, then asked, “Laurie Anne, are you and Richard going to be helping Big Bill find out who wants to hurt him?”

  Junior was right. Everybody in town had figured it out before I did. “Yes, we are. I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

  “No, not at all. I know we can trust you to find out whoever it is, and to do the right thing. No matter who it is.” She said the last part as if it meant something specific, but I didn’t know what.

  So I just said, “I’ll do my best.”

  She nodded and headed toward the kitchen.

  “That was rather touching,” Richard said. “I was afraid she’d resist our being around. Instead, she’s put her trust in us.”

  “At least she wanted it to seem that way. Maybe she just wanted to find out whether or not she has to watch out for us. She would have known that it would make her look suspicious if she tried to chase us off.”

  Richard took a deep breath. “I love the smell of paranoia in the morning.”

  “Even paranoids have enemies,” I told him, but I was wondering if Dorcas’s last comment had meant something more. Did she suspect somebody? Had she seen something? I made a mental note to talk to her soon.

  The ambulance attendants came down then, followed by Dr. Patel and Burt, who was quizzing the doctor about Big Bill’s treatment. Richard and I headed on up. Jan and Anne were tucking in Big Bill’s sheet while Vivian wrapped a sticky contact around one of his fingers as he watched in fascination. That done, she pushed a button on a gadget sitting on a cart next to the bed, and a low-pitched boop-boop started as the number 99 flashed onto the machine’s display.

  “Come see what I’ve got,” Big Bill said. “This here is a pulse oximeter—that noise you’re hearing is my pulse. Vivian, what’s that number again?”

  “The percentage of oxygen in your blood,” Vivian said. The number flashed to 100. “Which you want to keep right there. If it goes much below that, you’re not getting enough oxygen.”

  “Isn’t that something?” said Big Bill, as happy as a child with a new toy. “Look at all this stuff,” he said, waving his hand around. Suddenly, the pulse oximeter started beeping loudly, and the number display flashed 00. “What’s that mean?” Big Bill asked, sounding as alarmed as the pulse oximeter.

  “It means you’re moving around too much,” Vivian said, and pushed his arm down. A second later, the machine went back to steady pulse sounds and the number went back to 100. “You’re supposed to be sick, remember?”

  “Right.” He settled back in the bed, and as the nurses fiddled with various things, I took a look around. On Big Bill’s instructions, Irene had cleared the furniture out of a guest bedroom so they could move in a hospital bed, a rolling tray table, and enameled carts to hold the equipment and various supplies sealed in plastic bags. There was a television on top of a high rack, where Big Bill could see it from his bed, just like in a hospital, and there were several comfortable-looking chairs, presumably for the nurses and Aunt Maggie.

  Aunt Maggie was already in one of them, patting Bobbin, and I thought I heard her apologizing to the dog for leaving her so suddenly. When she saw I was listening, she acted as if she hadn’t said anything. I don’t think she wanted anybody to know she talked to the dog.

  Vivian closed the door to the room and said, “Most of this is just for show, though it could come in handy if there really was an emergency. One of the three of us is going to be in here at all times. Jan’s got first shift, seven to three. I come in for three to eleven, and Anne will take eleven to seven. At some point, we’ll need to get somebody to relieve us for days off, but not for a week or two.”

  “I’m hoping we won’t need to keep this up that long,” I put in.

  “Are you women armed?” Big Bill asked.

  “No, sir, we’re nurses, not snipers. But we’re all up to date on hand-to-hand combat, and if that’s not good enough, you’d be surprised at what can be done with a scalpel or a hypo.” She bared her teeth, and I made a mental note to be scrupulously polite to the nurses the next time I was in the hospital. “We’ll carry in our own food, and only eat it or what Mrs. Walters here brings to us. Big Bill and Mrs. Walters should do the same thing.”

  “Call me Maggie,” Aunt Maggie said.

  “Maggie it is. The only time we’ll leave Big Bill alone is for bathroom breaks. There’s an adjoining bathroom, and we’ll lock the door to the bedroom before we go, so it should be reasonably safe.”

  “I’m planning to stay here most of the time, too,” Aunt Maggie said.

  “Good enough.”

  With that decided, Vivian and Anne left, leaving Jan to finish out her shift. A few seconds later, Miz Duffield came in with a heavily laden tray. “It’s too early for lunch, but I thought you might want a snack, so I made a batch of those pecan rolls you like.”

  They smelled wonderful, and I could see Big Bill eyeing them, but he looked over at Jan. She shook her head.

  Big Bill sank into the bed and mumbled, “I’m tired—don’t think I could eat a thing.”

  “Don’t bother bringing him lunch, either,” Aunt Maggie said. “I’m going to be taking care of Bill’s meals from now on.”

  Miz Duffield bristled. “I have been cooking meals in this house for over two decades, and there have never been any complaints with my cooking.”

  “That was before Bill was poisoned here,” Aunt Maggie said flatly.

  “Are you implying that I was involved with that?” Miz Duffield said.

  “I’m not implying a thing. I’m just saying that Bill’s not going to eat anything that comes out of your kitchen until we know it’s safe.” She gave Miz Duffield a look. “I’d think you’d understand that, if you’re all so concerned about him.”

  “Of course I’m concerned about Mr. Big Bill,” Miz Duffield snapped. “I’ll do anything I can to ensure his safety.”

  “Good. Then don’t bother fetching any more food up here.”

  About half a dozen emotions flitted across Irene’s face before she finally said, “Very well.” She didn’t so much stomp as march out the door.

  “Was that necessary?” Big Bill asked after Miz Duffield was gone. “Irene’s not all that bad, and she makes mighty fine pecan rolls.”

  “We’re not taking any chances,” Aunt Maggie said. “All I’ve got to do is figure out how I’m going to keep you fed, because you know I don’t cook. I hope you like pizza. Domino’s is the only place in town that delivers.”

  Seeing the grimace on Big Bill’s face, I said, “Why don’t I talk to Aunt Nora? She probably won’t mind fixing some of your meals, and she can get one of her boys to bring them over.”

  That cheered them both up, and I called Aunt Nora, who said she’d be delighted to cook for them as often as they wanted, and started planning which of her specialties she’d fix first: fried chicken, country-style steak, or chicken and dumplings. By the time I got off the phone, I was ready to start planning Richard’s and my schedule so we could be around at mealtimes.

  Burt tiptoed in next. “Hey, Daddy, are you doing all right? Can I get you anything?”

  “I think I’ve got everything I need,” Big Bill said gruffly, but it was his usual gruffness, not the way he’d been when he thought Burt was trying to kill him.

  “Do you want me to keep you company?”

  “No need for that. I think I’m going to take me a nap. I imagine you want to get out to the mill before th
e day is completely gone.”

  “I was planning on staying home today.”

  “Is that right?” Big Bill said. “If you’ve got that much free time, maybe I could make some suggestions….”

  Burt quickly added, “But if you’re doing all right, maybe I will go on into the office. You let me know if there’s anything you need.”

  “Burt,” Aunt Maggie said, “have you ever known Bill to keep quiet when he wants something?”

  Big Bill and Burt both grinned. Then Burt leaned down and kissed his father on the cheek before he left. Big Bill blinked a couple of times, and darned if I didn’t think there were tears in his eyes.

  Being Big Bill, he immediately cleared his throat and said, “So what have you two found out? I don’t aim to spend the rest of my life in this bed.”

  “We went through the letters in your file,” I said, “and came up with some names to ask about.” Richard pulled out his notepad with a flourish and handed it to me. “Andrew Herron, Marlyn Roberts, Molly Weston, Jack Morris, and Kevin Dyer. Do any of them sound like likely candidates?”

  “Andrew Herron? Isn’t he that nutcase out in the woods?”

  “You mean Crazy Sandie?” I said, remembering a name I hadn’t thought of in years.

  “That’s him. He’s too crazy for me to worry about.”

  Actually, if half the stories I’d heard about the man were true, he was just crazy enough. “What about Marlyn Roberts?”

  “It’s a shame about Marlyn,” he said, but didn’t sound all that sympathetic. “She used to be married to Dyson Roberts, and he managed to cheat her during the divorce settlement. Dyson went broke, so she can’t get anything out of him, so she’s hoping I’ll give her some money to shut her up. Which is never going to happen. Don’t worry about her, either. Who else have you got?”

  “Molly Weston?”

  “No idea—doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “There were two letters from her in your files. She has brown lung.”

  “If you say so. I can’t remember everybody who writes to me.”

  “How about Jack Morris? You foreclosed on his house.”

  “Damned right I did—that idiot was two years in arrears on his payments, and it turned out he had twenty-seven cats in that house. Do you have any idea how much it cost to clean that place out? Anyway, he moved to Rocky Shoals, and when he died last year, darned if they didn’t find another dozen cats in his apartment.”

  “Do any of his people blame you for his death?” I asked.

  “I never heard that he had any family, just the cats.”

  Richard looked at the last man on our list. “Kevin Dyer. He’s a contractor who—”

  “I remember Dyer. He used substandard materials and charged premium prices. After he tried to cheat me, I spread the word all over the state, so he had to move out west.”

  “Could he be angry at you for ruining his chances around here?” Richard asked.

  “I doubt it. He found much easier pickings out in Kansas. One of the men he cheated called to ask about him, but he’d waited until too late. The man had paid Dyer in advance without bothering to check his references, and then was surprised when he got rooked.” He shook his head over the man’s lack of business acumen. “Anybody else?”

  Unfortunately, those were the best of the lot. Just to be thorough, I read out the names on our second-tier list, but Big Bill pooh-poohed them just as thoroughly. Finally I handed the notebook back to Richard and said, “You better get used to that bed, because you’ve just shot down every idea we had, and you haven’t supplied anything in their place.”

  “Now, don’t get mad,” Big Bill said. “It’s not my fault that more people don’t want to kill me.”

  “Are you kidding?” I said. “Don’t you realize how many people you’ve riled up over the years?”

  “Of course I do, but most of them don’t matter. You see, Laurie Anne, this is how I do business. If I run up against somebody weaker than I am, I win because I’m stronger, and they learn not to mess with me again. If I run up against somebody as strong as I am, I win them over so they’ll do business with me. If I run up against somebody stronger than I am… Well, I’ve only done that twice, and I married both of them.”

  Aunt Maggie looked gratified by the compliment, but I was still exasperated. “There must be another category out there, because somebody wants you dead.”

  Big Bill sighed. “I’m sorry, Laurie Anne, but I just don’t know who it could be. Go ahead and talk to those people if you want—maybe I’m wrong about one of them.”

  I looked at Richard, who nodded, and as we got up to go, I said, “We may as well get to it.” I know I didn’t sound very optimistic, but then again, I wasn’t feeling all that optimistic.

  Chapter 12

  As Richard and I were on our way out the front door, I spotted Dorcas looking through the mail and whispered, “Richard, why don’t you go on out to the car? I want to talk to Dorcas.” There’d been so many movies where the sleuth had been given an enigmatic hint, only to have the hinter killed before the sleuth could follow up. I intended to talk to Dorcas while she was still alive and kicking.

  “Mrs. Walters, can I speak to you for a minute?” I said.

  “Certainly,” she said, putting down the mail. “Shall we go into the study?”

  She led the way into what I thought was one of the lovelier rooms in the house, a study decorated in Chinese-style furniture with a gorgeous Oriental rug and massive Ming vases. Dorcas took one of the chairs flanking the fireplace and gestured me toward the other. “How can I help you, Laurie Anne?”

  “I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier, how you trusted me to find out who was trying to kill Big Bill, no matter who it was. It sounded as if you had somebody in mind.”

  “I’m afraid I do.” She paused.

  “Can you tell me who?”

  “Let me ask you a question first. Suppose you knew an older man—a wealthy older man—who suddenly married a woman who was not nearly so well provided for. If somebody tried to kill that man just a few days after he’d changed his will in favor of his new bride, who would you suspect?”

  I swallowed my initial reaction and counted to ten three times before saying, “I can see why somebody might suspect the new bride. But there’s something you don’t know.”

  “Oh?”

  “There were three attempts on Big Bill’s life before he and Aunt Maggie got married.”

  “Really? I had no idea.”

  “Big Bill and Aunt Maggie were keeping it quiet, hoping to find out who the person was themselves.”

  “Why didn’t Big Bill tell Burt and I?” A second later she answered her own question. “He was afraid it was Burt, wasn’t he? Or me?”

  I just couldn’t lie to her, so I nodded.

  “I suppose I can’t blame him,” Dorcas said, “but I’d thought Big Bill was as fond of me as I am of him.”

  “He is; he really is. He’s just scared. Not that he’ll ever admit it.”

  “Never,” she said. “That’s the kind of man he is. I remember the first time I met him…” She looked into the distance. “He was such a vital man, even more so than now. I nearly fell in love with him that night—if it hadn’t been for Burt’s mother, I very well could have.”

  It didn’t sound like much of a foundation for her marriage to Burt, and she must have realized that.

  “Then I met Burt,” she added with a small smile, “and realized he was the right man for me. Big Bill was a force of nature, as impossible to tame as a hurricane, and just as impossible for me to live with. Burt was something else—I knew who he was, and what we could do together.” Then she looked down at her hands, and I thought she was studying her diamond-encrusted engagement ring and wedding band. “At least, I thought I knew him.” She seemed to pull herself together. “If it’s any help to you, Laurie Anne, I can assure you that I would never harm Big Bill.”

  I nodded, though I knew she could have been
lying. I also found it interesting that she didn’t add a similar comment about Burt. She really was afraid she didn’t know her husband anymore.

  “There must be other suspects,” Dorcas said. “Big Bill is a good man, but any man as powerful as he is has enemies.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” I said ruefully. “Richard and I spent hours going through his file of threatening letters. A lot of them are from nuts, but some are worth investigating.” Dorcas looked interested in hearing more, but I realized that I might already have said too much. “If it makes you feel any better, we’re doing our best for Big Bill.”

  “Thank you, Laurie Anne; that is a comfort. If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  The door to the room opened then, and Miz Duffield stuck her head in.

  “Yes, Irene?” Dorcas said.

  “Mr. Montgomery is here, ma’am.”

  “Is it that time already?” Dorcas said, checking the slim gold watch on her wrist. “Please show him in.” To me, she said, “You’ll have to excuse me, Laurie Anne. Tavis and I have to go over some last-minute decisions for the Halloween carnival.”

  “Richard and I need to be going, anyway.”

  Irene brought Tavis in. “Hello, Dorcas,” he said, and gave her a peck on the cheek. “How’s Big Bill?”

  “Still very weak,” Dorcas said, “but the doctor has every expectation that he’ll recover completely.”

  “Thank goodness,” Tavis said. “Are you sure you’re up to this meeting? I don’t want to intrude.”

  “No, I need to keep busy. Besides, I don’t want to put an extra burden on you.”

  “You’re too conscientious,” he said admiringly.

  I shouldn’t have been watching the two of them so blatantly, but I was thinking about what Miz Duffield had said about Tavis. Tavis noticed right away and, as I stood up, came over to give me the exact same kind of kiss he’d given Dorcas. Since we’d never been kissing friends before, I didn’t know if he was covering his tracks or just being a consummate politician. Then again, maybe I was still being paranoid.

  “I better let y’all get to work,” I said.